Epistolae Ho-Elianae : the familiar letters of James Howell

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LIBRARY

OP THE

University of California.

Class

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HOWELL'S LETTERS

j IN TWO VOLUMES

I VOLUME I

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.■/„„,/,:,/,„„ /,. K'r ,.„;,/„„/' r,/,/,„.

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JAMES HOWELL

IN A FRONTISPIECE GROUP OF TEN SYMBOLICAL

DRAWINGS MADE BY F. H. VAN HOVE FOR THE 1678

EDITION OF THE "FAMILIAR LETTERS''

{

i

EPISTOL^ HO-ELIANjE OR
THE FAMILIAR LETTERS OF

JAMES HOWELL

WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY AGNES REPPLIER
VOLUME I

BOSTON AND NEW YORK.

HOUGHTON MIFFLIN AND COMPANY

1907

COPYUGHT 1907 BY HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

OK THE

UNIVERSITY

OF

INTRODUCTION

IF the unresponsive gods, so often invoked, so
seldom complaisant, would grant me one sweet
boon, I should ask of them that I might join that
little band of authors, who, unknown to the wide
careless world, remain from generation to generation
the friends of a few fortunate readers. Such authors
have no conspicuous foothold among those opu-
lent, symmetrical volumes that stand on drill in rich
men's libraries, as well uniformed and as untried
as a smart militia regiment. They have been sel-
dom seen in the lists of the hundred best books.
The committees who select reading matter for their
native towns are often unacquainted with their
titles. The great department stores of our great
cities never offer them to the great public in twenty-
five cent editions. Yet they live for centuries a
tranquil life of dignified seclusion. When they are
lifted down from their remote corners on the book-
shelves, it is with a friendly touch. The hands
that hold them, caress them. The eyes that glance
over them, smile at the familiar pages. Their read-
ers feel for them a personal sentiment, approach-
ing them with mental ease, and with a sweet and
certain intimacy of companionship. These authors
grow very shabby as the years roll by, and some-
times — though rarely — a sympathetic publisher

l(>4103

vi INTRODUCTION

turns his attention from the whirling vortex of new
books, and gives them a fresh outfit ; presents them
— if he has a generous soul — with the clearest of
type, the finest of paper, the richest and most appro-
priate of bindings. So embellished, they enjoy little
dignified triumphs of their own, and become the
cherished property of that ever diminishing minor-
ity who, by some happy turn of fate, are fitted to
enjoy the pleasure which literary art can give.
y Such a writer — half forgotten, yet wholly be-
^ loved — is James Howell, "Clerk of the Council
in Extraordinary," under Charles I, "Historio-
grapher Royal," under Charles II, author of three-
score works now laid to rest, and of the " Famil-
iar Letters" which can never be laid to rest until
accurate observation, a lively narrative, and a
genius for seizing the one right word have lost
^ their power to please. A student of the world was
James Howell, a man of wide experience and of
fluctuating fortunes. The descendant of an old and
honourable Welsh family, with titled relatives of
whom he felt reasonably proud, he was yet poor
in estate, as befitted one of a country clergyman's
fifteen children ; so that while his elder brother
was the august Bishop of Bristol, his younger ones
were apprenticed to trade, like lads of ignoble
birth. Being, happily, but the second son, his own
tuition was of the best. Sent to a " choice metho-
dical school " at Hereford, he was early beaten into
a love of learning; and at Oxford he acquired —
or so at least he says — " the patrimony of a liberal

INTRODUCTION vii

education." Thus equipped, it behooved him to
carve his own career, and the congenial fashion in
which he set about accomplishing this difficult task
was by travelling for three years as the agent of a
London glass factory, the owners of which sought
to obtain workmen, materials, and inspiration from
the great artistic centres of Europe.

Never was a happier chance thrown in a young
man's way. Never was there a more cheerful and
observant voyager. Byron's sensible axiom, ^* Com-
fort must not be expected by folks that go a-plea-
suring," expressed to perfection young Howell's
point of view. " Rocked and shaken " at sea, beset
by countless difficulties on land, he ever stoutly
maintained " that though these frequent removes
and tumblings under climes of differing temper
were not without some danger, yet the delight
which accompany'd them was far greater ; and it is
impossible for any man to conceive the true plea-
sure of peregrination, but he who actually enjoys,
and puts it into practice." Before quitting Eng-
land, he obtained a warrant from the Council,
authorizing him to remain for three years on the
Continent, and to visit any spot he chose, with the
exception of Rome, and St Omer, where stood the
great Jesuit college. Such was the parental care
which Protestant England in King James' day took
of her children's faith, — an astute precaution for
the most part, but needless in this particular case.
Howell possessed all his life that tolerance, almost
amounting to sympathy, for other people's creeds

VIU

INTRODUCTION

'\

which can be trusted to leave a man serenely root-
ed in his own. He never offered friction enough
to light a fresh fire. His admiration for the fa-
mous shrine at Monserrat was as untroubled by pious
scruples as was his admiration for the Arsenal of
Venice, or the wine of Valentia. When he found
himself without ftmds in Turin, he philosophically
joined a band of pilgrims, and " with gentle pace
and easy journeys " proceeded on foot to Lyons. It
is true that in a letter written years later to Sir
Edward Knight, a letter in which he confesses am-
ple tolerance for Turk and infidel, as bearing " the
same stamp that I do, though the inscription dif-
fer," he adds somewhat unexpectedly that he " could
be content to see an Anabaptist go to Hell on a
Brownist's back ; " but this was the expression of
a civic rather than of a religious animosity. Turks
stayed in Turkey, out of sight and hearing ; and
infidels went their regrettable way in silence. But
for " those schismatics that puzzle the sweet peace
of the church," as well as for all who were " pen-
dulous and brangling in religion," he had a strong
instinctive dislike. The passion for controversy
which flamed high in his day left him wholly and
happily unconcerned.

This mental calm permitted Howell to enjoy
the ripe fruits of that great Latin civilization which
was then ebbing slowly from its marvellous heights
of fulfilment. The beauty and the glory of Italy
held him spellbound. What generous epithets he
lavishes upon those superb cities whose very names

\ INTRODUCTION ix

set the world's heart a-beating. " Venice the rich,
Padua the learned, Bologna the fat, Rome the
holy, Naples the gentle, Genoa the prpud, Flor-
ence the fair, and Milan the great." The first
beautiful woman, he t^Us us, was made of Venice
glass, lovely, and brittle withal ; and " Eve spake
Italian when Adam was seduced," for in what
other tongue could she have been so irresistible ?
Notwithstanding the injunction of the Council,
he made his way to Rome, and, with a swift and
sure intuition, — rare in the island-born, — pro-
nounces it " Communis Patria." " For every one
that is within the compass of the Latin Church
finds himself here, as it were, at home, and in his
mother's house, in regard of interest in religion,
which is the cause that for one native, there be
five strangers that sojourn in this city."

^ For Spain, too, Howell has his meed of praise,

extolling alike the manners of the great, who
never gave an alms save with courtesy, and the self-
respect of the poor, whom he found to be sturdy
and rational, with none of the servility of the down-

. trodden French peasant. He warms into eloquence

over the free Biscayan shore, virgin of Moors for
seven hundred years, and tells us that the King
of Spain always pulled off one shoe before tread-
ing on that honoured soil, which he is proud to
compare to unconquered Wales. His characteristic
closeness of observation is everywhere apparent,
whether it be in a brief and careless statement, as
" 'T is no new thing for the French to be always

X INTRODUCTION

a-<loing ; they have a stirring genius ; " or, in the
epitomized history of the Netherlands which he
" huddled up " a few years later at Antwerp, and
which is concise, graphic, tolerant, entertaining,
everything, — save perhaps accurate, — that his-
tory ought to be.

On his return to England, Howell was engaged
as a travelling tutor for the two young sons of
Lord Savage ; but unable or unwilling to fill so
responsible a post for Roman Catholic pupils, he
reluctantly abandoned this " dainty race of chil-
dren," and accepted a somewhat similar position
with Richard Altham, son of Baron Altham, and
" one of the hopefullest young men of this king-
dom." In 1622 he had the rare good fortune to
be appointed a royal agent, and sent to Spain in
the interests of the Turkey Company, which
claimed compensation from the Spanish Govern-
ment for the seizure of one of its ships by the
Viceroy of Sardinia. Full of hope, and proud of
the importance of his mission, Howell flung him-
self with ardour into a business which might have
reasonably discouraged an older man. He read
all the papers pertaining to the suit, " and I find
they are higher than I in bulk, tho* closely
press'd together;" he pushed his claim whenever
and wherever he could find a hearing ; he made
perceptible progress, and was confident of success,
when suddenly on the evening of March 7,
there appeared in Madrid two English travellers,
Mr John Smith, and Mr Thomas Smith, who

INTRODUCTION xi

within a few hours were discovered to be Charles,
Prince of Wales, and the Marquis of Buckingham.
A more disastrous episode for Howell, or a
more fortunate one for his readers, it would be
hard to imagine. Nothing can be livelier than his
account of this strange adventure which set the
world agape. How Mr Thomas Smith (Buck-
ingham), "with a portmantle under his arm,"
knocked at Lord Bristol's gates, while Mr John
Smith (the Prince) waited in the dark on the other
side of the street. How Lord Bristol, "in a kind
of astonishment," conducted his strange visitors
into his bed-chamber, and sent off a post that
night to England, to acquaint the King of their
arrival. How the Spanish Court was thrown into
confusion, and the Infanta — for whose sake the
Prince had hazarded this voyage — began, like fair
Katharine of France, the ardent study of English.
How the Prince leaped the wall of the Casa de
Campo to have speech with his lady, and she
fled shrieking from so bold a wooer. How the
common people of Spain were mightily pleased
with the Englishman's gallantry, and swore that
he and their Infanta should have been wedded
the night he reached Madrid. How Lord Bristol,
in anticipation of the marriage ceremony, caused
thirty new liveries of watchet velvet and silver lace
to be made for his household, "the best sort
whereof were valued at eighty pounds a livery ; "
— and we prate now about the ruinous expenses
which our ambassadors are forced to meet ! How,

xii INTRODUCTION

after months of excitement, the bubble collapsed,
the great match came to naught, and the affronted
Spaniards were left in no mood to conciliate Eng-
land, or reimburse the Turkey Company ; — all
these things are described in the " Familiar Let-
ters " with a wealth of picturesque detail which
only an eye-witness can supply.

The failure of his negotiations left young How-
ell rich in nothing but experience, and we find him
next acting as secretary to Lord Scroop, " a stable
home employment," with which he was marvel-
lously well content. By this time King James was
dead, the Scottish doctors had ceased muttering
dark doubts concerning the plaister which the
Countess of Buckingham had applied to His Maj-
esty's stomach, and Charles the First had begun,
under melancholy auspices, — which the letters do
not fail to note, — his unhappy and disastrous reign.
In 1628 Howell was sent to Parliament, as member
for Richmond ; and in 1632 the Earl of Leicester,
then quitting England as Ambassador Extraor-
dinary to the Court of Denmark, off^ered him the
post of secretary, an offtr immediately accepted.
The purpose of the embassy was to condole with
the Danish King on the death of the Queen Dow-
ager, grandmother of Charles the First, — a lady
of great thrift and enterprise, who was reputed to
have been the richest queen in Christenddm. A
merry condolence it was, as befitted the mourning
of an heir. To Howell, as orator, was consigned
the congenial task of making three long Latin ora-

INTRODUCTION xiii

dons ; — one to the King of Denmark, one to his
eldest son, Prince Christian, and a third to Prince
Frederick, Archbishop of Bremen. After these
preliminaries were over, the real business of mourn-
ing began, and Howell betrays a justifiable pride
at the ability of an English nobleman to cope
with the mighty drinkers of the North.

" The King feasted my Lord once, and it lasted
from eleven of the clock till towards the evening,
during which time the King began thirty-five
healths ; — the first to the Emperor, the second
to his nephew of England, and so went over all
the Kings and Queens of Christendom ; but he
never remembered the Prince Palsgrave's health,
nor his niece's all the while. The King was taken
away at last in his chair, but my Lord of Leices-
ter bore up stoutly all the while ; so that when
there came two of the King's Guard to take him
by the arms, as he was going down the stairs, my
Lord shook them off, and went alone.

" The next morning I went to Court for some
despatches, but the King was gone a-hunting at
break of day; but going to some other of his
ofllicers, their servants told me without any ap-
pearance of shame that their masters were drunk
overnight, and so it would be late before they
would rise."

It was after his return from this diplomatic mis-
sion that Howell, disappointed in his hopes of of-
fice, settled in London, and "commenced author"
with the publication of " Dodona's Grove, or the

xiv INTRODUCTION

Vocall Concert," and of a poem, "The Vote," ded-
icated as a New Year's gift to the King. There is
little doubt that he was at this time a royalist " in-
telligencer," and that his ingrained habit of collect-
ing news made him a usef\il servant of the crown.
It was a difficult and somewhat dangerous game
to play, — rewards and penalties following in quick
succession. In August, 1642, he was appointed
Clerk of the Council in Extraordinary, and four
months later he was arrested by order of the Long
Parliament, and summarily committed to the Fleet,
then used as a prison for political offenders as well
as for less fortunate debtors.

In the Fleet Howell remained (I will not say
languished, for he was not the type of captive to
languish) for eight long years. He always stoutly
maintained that he was imprisoned for loyalty to
his king; but Anthony a Wood asserts with some
churlishness that he was arrested for debt, " being
prodigally inclined." The truth seems to be that
his debts afforded a reasonable excuse for his im-
prisonment; and that Parliament had no mind to
set him free while there was still a field for his
activities. Perhaps the Fleet saved him from
greater perils. It certainly afforded him both an
opportunity and an incentive to write. We owe
a great deal in letters to those long leisurely cap-
tivities which gave the prisoner solitude, quiet,
time for meditation, an opening for philosophy,
and — if he were nobly disposed — a chance to
purge his soul, to refine it in the fires of affliction.

INTRODUCTION xv

** Stone walls do not a prison make>
Nor iron bars a cage ;
Minds innocent and quiet take
These for a hermitage."

Howell, it IS true, petitioned resolutely for his
release, — how could a man do less? — but he
wrote many more profitable things than petitions
during the eight years that he remained in the
Fleet. Among a score of books and pamphlets
dating from this period are his " Perfect Descrip-
tion of the People and Country of Scotland," — a
work which Scotchmen were never known to love ;
and " Instructions for Forreine Travel" (the earli-
est forerunner of Murray), with a dedication in
verse to the young Prince of Wales, in which that
promising youth is likened — on the score of
swarthiness, there being no other points of resem-
blance — to the Black Prince. In 1645 appeared
the first volume of letters under the comprehensive
title, "Epistolae Ho-Elianae : Familiar Letters,
Domestic and Foreign, divided into Sundry Sec-
tions, partly Historical, Political and Philosoph-
ical," — a title which conscientiously told all it
I had to tell. The book was dedicated to the King

in a few simple and sensible words, its author
venturing to remind His Majesty that many of
its pages recalled his own royal deeds. " And 't is
well known that letters can treasure up and trans-
mit matters of State to posterity with as much
faith, and be as authentic registers, and safe repos-
itories of truth as any story whatsoever."

xvi INTRODUCTION

The success of the venture induced Howell,
who sorely needed money, to publish a second
volume of letters while he was still in the Fleet,
and a third and fourth after his release in 1651.
By this date, England, for the first time in all her
glorious history, had no longer a king to accept
panegyrics; and Howell, nothing daunted, turned
his attention to the Lord Protector, to whom, in
1655, he dedicated a pamphlet entitled "Some
Sober Inspections made into the Carriage and
Consults of the late Long Parliament." Exulting,
not unnaturally, in the overthrow of his old ene-
mies, he compared Cromwell's drastic measures
with those of that somewhat arbitrary ruler, Charles
Martel, which commendation, though much cen-
sured by royalists, seems to have been tolerably
sincere. Howell loved and revered the monar-
chy. It was his reasonable hope that Charles II
would at some distant day succeed to his father's
throne; but in the mean time Cromwell was a
strong man, armed, keeping his court, and those
things were in peace which he possessed. Like
Carlyle, Howell had a natural taste for " one man
power," and profoundly distrusted that "waver-
ing, windy thing," that " humoursome and cross-
grained animal," the common Englishman, or,
indeed, the common citizen of any land. The
tolerant King understood, and probably sympa-
thized with this mental attitude, for, a year after
the Restoration, he granted the author two hun-
dred pounds from his privy purse ; and subse-

INTRODUCTION xvii

quently appointed him to the office of Histori-
ographer General, with a salary of one hundred
pounds a year, which — like most salaries of the
period — was seldom or never paid.

To the end of his life Howell wrote with the
unabated industry of a needy man. That he felt
himself ill-used is proved by his sarcastic " Cordial
for Cavaliers," in which he essays to console his
fellow sufferers for the supposed neglect of their
monarch by proffering them a wealth of bitter and
unsustaining philosophy. A fusillade of broad-
sheets followed its publication; for Howell had
his enemies, and some of them were of the opinion
that the man who had so enthusiastically com-
pared Cromwell to Charles Martel should have
been more modest in demanding rewards from
Charles Stuart, who, indeed, would have needed
a world as wide as Alexander's to have satisfied all
petitioners. It is pleasant to know, however, that
when Howell died at the ripe age of seventy-one,
he was able to leave a number of small legacies,
among them two to his sisters, Gwin and Roberta-
ap-Rice, — names that thrill the ordinary reader
with delight. He was buried, by his own desire,
in the Temple Church, and his monument, for
which he bequeathed the sum of thirty pounds,
is still in excellent preservation, though few there
are who pause to read its modest Latin inscription.

It is useless at this late date to ask captious
questions anent the integrity of the "Familiar
Letters." Of the threescore works, ranging from

•^4^

xviii INTRODUCTION

broadsheets to folios, which Howell left behind
him, they alone have survived the wear and tear
of centuries. They have been read for nearly
three hundred years, and are likely to be read
with unshaken delight for at least three hundred
more. That he wrote them all is certain. That
some of them are the original texts, we have every
reason to believe. People who received letters in
those appreciative days treasured them sacredly,
and bur best friend, the waste-paper basket, seems
to have been then unknown. Howell would have
had no great difficulty in securing the return of
part of his correspondence. Moreover, it is likely
that so prudent and methodical a gentleman kept
copies or rough draughts of his more important
letters, — a reprehensible custom which it is not
for us, who in this instance profit by it, to criticize.
We know, too, that it was his habit, especially
while abroad, to jot down the " notablest occur-
rences " of each day in a " fair alphabetique paper
book ; " and it was from such a valuable reserve
that he drew his epistolary supplies. To pro-
nounce the letters mere fabrications on the traduc-
ing evidence of Anthony a Wood would be to fly
far of the mark. They are too full of intimate
detail, of local colour, of little tell-tale accuracies
for any such undermining theory. But if some
of them were, indeed, fresh minted in the Fleet,
composed in that dim solitude, when memories
of the wide sunlit world he had traversed so mer-
rily thronged through the prisoner's mind, we, at

INTRODUCTION xix

least, have no reason to complain. It would have
been hard to turn captivity to better purpose.

In the " Familiar Letters," as in many another
old and seldom acknowledged book, we find a
store of curious anecdotes which have been retold
ever since, to the enrichment of more modern
authors. Howell listened with equal interest — and
equal credulity — to the gossip of foreign courts,
to the " severe jests " which passed from mouth
to mouth, and to the marvellous stories of the
common people. He tells us the tale of the Pied
Piper of Hamelin, prefacing it with the grave
assurance that he would not relate it, " were there
not some ground of truth in it." He tells us of
the bird with a white breast which presaged the
death of all the Oxenham family ; and the pleas-
ant story of the Duke of Ossuna and the galley
slaves ; and about that devout Earl of Hapsburg
who, by a single act of piety, laid the foundation
of his family's greatness. He tells us the pitiful
tale of the Sire de Coucy, who, dying in battle
with the Turk, bade his servant carry back his
heart to the Daifie de Fayel, whom he had long
and ardently loved. This gift the lady's husband
intercepted, and had it made into a ** well-relished
dish," which he compelled his wife to eat, assur-
ing her it was a cordial for her weakness. When
she had eaten it all, he revealed to her the truth ;
whereupon, "in a sudden exaltation of joy, she
with a far-fetch'd sigh said, 'This is a precious
cordial indeed ; ' and so lick'd the dish, saying.

XX INTRODUCTION

*It is so precious that 'tis pity to put ever any
meat upon 't/ So she went to bed, and in the
morning she was found stone-dead."

Howell's style is eminently well adapted for
the news-letter, for a form of composition which
requires vividness and lucidity rather than grace
and distinction. He writes in sentences of easy
length and simple construction, discarding for the
most part those sonorous and labyrinthine
masses of words in which the scholarly writers
of his day wrapped up their serious thoughts.
A letter, he tells us, should be " short-coated and
closely couch'd," and he has scant patience with
those who " preach when they should epistolize."
No one has ever surpassed him in the narrator's
art of snatching the right word, of remembering
and recording those precise details which can be
trusted to give value and vraisemblance, of tell-
ing a lively and unembarrassed tale. His account
of the Duke of Buckingham's murder, of the
visit of the Prince of Wales to Madrid, of the
hideous execution of Ravaillac, are so vigorous
and sympathetic, so full of intimate and signifi-
cant touches, that it is hard to realize he was not
always an eye-witness of the events so graphically
described. He gathered his information from
every available source, and often with astonishing
speed. The postmaster of Stilton came to his
bedside to tell him that the Duke of Buckingham
had been killed ; and the Earl of Rutland, riding
in all haste to London, alighted from his horse to

INTRODUCTION xxi

confirm the news, and to add picturesque partic-
ulars, which Howell in his turn sent off without
an hour's delay to the Countess of Sunderland.
It sounds like the inspired methods of the re-
porter.

None of the impersonality of the modern news-
vender, however, can be charged to Howell's ac-
count. His motto.

** As keys do open chests.
So letters open breasts,"

but faintly indicates the exhaustive nature of his
unreserve. At every period of his career we see
him with extraordinary distinctness. A man full!
of the zest of life, of sanguine temperament, of cath-
olic tastes, of restless and indomitable energy. A
man who met misfortunes bravely, and who was
touched to finer issues by the austere hand of ad-
versity. An outspoken man withal, after the fash-
ion of his day, whose occasional grossness of tongue
— or of pen — seems due, less to the love of pru-
rient things, than to the absence of that guiding
principle of taste, which in every age can be trusted
to keep finely-bred natures uncontaminate. "The
priggish little clerk of King Charles' Council,"
Thackeray calls Howell, — perhaps because he
enjoyed making Latin orations, and quotes the
classics oftener than seems imperative. But of
the essence of priggishness, which is measuring big
things by small standards, the author of the " Fa-
miliar Letters" is nowhere guilty. A devout

xxii INTRODUCTION

churchman who reverenced other men's creeds;
a loyal English subject who loved other lands than
his ; a cheerful traveller who forgave France her
Frenchmen, and Spain her Spaniards ; a philo-
sopher whose philosophy stood the strain of mis-
fortune; — Howell exhibits some finer qualities
than the soul of a prig can sustain. A hundred
years before the publication of the " Letters,"
that revered scholar, Roger Ascham, wrote with
pious self-content : " I was once in Italy myself;
but I thank God my abode there was but nine
days." A hundred years after Howell had been
laid to rest, a respected English gentleman, Mr
Edgeworth, prefaced his work on education with
this complacency :

" To pretend to teach courage to Britons would
be as ridiculous as it is unnecessary ; and, except
among those who are exposed to the contagion of
foreign manners, we may boast of the superior de-
licacy of our fair countrywomen; a delicacy acquired
from domestic example, and confirmed by public
approbation."

Between these triumphant insularities let us read
what the " little clerk of King Charles' Council "
has to say. He is writing from Naples to one
" Christopher Jones of Gray's Inn."

" Believe it. Sir, that ayear well employed abroad
by one of mature judgment (which you know I
want very much) advantageth more in point of use-
ful and solid knowledge than three in any of our
universities. You know * running waters are the

INTRODUCTION xxiii

purest/ so they that traverse the world up and
down have the clearest understanding ; being faith-
ful eye-witnesses of those things which others re-
ceive but in trust, whereunto they must yield an
intuitive consent, and a kind of implicit faith. "

It is certainly not Howell's page that mirrors
forth the prig.

The " Familiar Letters " stand in little need of
erudite notes. The incidents they relate, the people
they describe, are for the most part well known,
or, at least, easy to know. The fantastic stories
had best be taken as they stand. The dim quota-
tions fade from our memories. The characteristic
quality of the letters is their readability, and to
the reader — as apart from the student — Howell
is sufficient for himself. Many of his pages are
dated from the Fleet, when the high hopes of
youth lie dead, when the keenness of the observant
traveller is dimmed, and his grossness purged by
fire. He measures levelly his loss and gain, and
accepts both with a half whimsical philosophy which
is not too lofty to be loved. It is after three years
of captivity that he writes thus to Philip Warwick:

" I have been so habituate to this prison, and
accustomed to the walls thereof so long, that I might
well be brought to think that there is no other
world behind them. And in my extravagant im-
aginations, I often compare this Fleet to Noah's
Ark, surrounded with a vast sea, and huge deluge
of calamities which hath overwhelmed this poor
island. Nor, altho* I have been so long aboard

xxiv INTRODUCTION

here, was I yet under hatches, for I have a cabin
upon the upper deck, whence I breathe the best air
the place affords ; add hereunto that the sodety
of Master Hopkins the Warden is an advantage to
me, who is one of the knowingest and most dvil
gentlemen that I have convers'd withal. Moreover,
there are here some choice gentlemen who are my
co-martyrs ; for a prisoner and a martyr are the
same thing, save that the one is buried before his
death, and the other after."

Perhaps a sweet reasonableness of character is
the quality which, above all others, holds our hearts
in keeping ; and so the " Familiar Letters " are
sure of their remote corner on the book-shelf, and
the gods — not always unresponsive — have given
to James Howell the coveted boon of being from
generation to generation his reader's friend.

THE VOTE, OR A POEM-ROYAL

PRESENTED TO

HIS MAJESTY FOR A NEW YEAr's GIFT, BY WAY

OF DISCOURSE BETWIXT THE POET

AND HIS MUSE

Calendis Januarii 164.I

POEMA

Sr/OTTvcnKov

THE world's bright eye, Time's measurer, begun
Through watery Capricorn his course to run,
Old Janus hastened on, his temples bound
With Ivy, his grey hairs with holly crowned j
When in a serious quest my thoughts did muse
What gift, as best becoming, I should choose
To Britain's monarch (my dread sovereign) bring.
Which might supply a New Year's offering.
I rummaged all my stores, and searched my cells
Where nought appeared, God wot, but bagatelles;
No far-fetched Indian gem cut out of rock,
Or fished in shells, were trusted under lock.
No piece which Angelo's strong fancy hit,
Or Titian's pencil, or rare Hillyard's wit.
No ermines, or black sables, no such skins
As the grim Tartar hunts or takes in gins ;
No medals, or rich stuff of Tyrian dye.
No costly bowls of frosted argentry,

f^" THE
OF

xxvi THE VOTE, OR A POEM-ROYAL

No curious landscape, or some marble piece
Digged up in Delphos, or elsewhere in Greece ;
No Roman perfumes, buffs, or cordovans
Made drunk with amber by Moreno's hands.
No arras or rich carpets freighted o'er
The surging seas from Asia's doubtful shore.
No lion's cub or beast of strange aspect.
Which in Numidia's fiery womb had slept,
No old Toledo blades, or Damaskins,
No pistols, or some rare-spring carabines.
No Spanish ginet or choice stallion sent
From Naples or hot Afric's continent.

In fine, I nothing found I could descry
Worthy the hands of Caesar or his eye.

My wits were at a stand, when lo ! my muse
(None of the choir, but such as they do use
For laundresses or handmaids of mean rank
I knew sometimes on Po and Isis' bank)
Did softly buz.

Muse
Then let me something bring.

May handsel the New Year to Charles, my king.
May usher in bifronted Janus

Poet

Thou fond, foolhardy Muse, thou silly thing.

Which 'mongst the shrubs and reeds dost use to sing,

Dar'st thou perk up, and the tall cedar climb.

And venture on a king with jingling rhyme ?

Though all thy words were pearls, thy letters gold.

And cut in rubies, or cast in a mould

Of diamonds, yet still thy lines would be

Too mean a gift for such a majesty, i

"

THE VOTE, OR A POEM-ROYAL xxvii

Muse

I '11 try, and hope to pass without disdain,

In New Year's gifts the mind stands for the main.

The Sophy, finding 't was well meant, did deign

Few drops of running water from a swain.

Then sure 't will please my liege if I him bring

Some gentle drops from the Castalian spring;

Though rareties I want of such account.

Yet have I something on the forked mount,

'T is not the first or third access I made

To Caesar's feet, and thence departed glad.

For as the sun with his male heat doth render

Nile's muddy slime fruitful, and apt t' engender,

And daily to produce new kind of creatures

Of various shapes and thousand differing features.

So is my fancy quickened by the glance *

Of his benign aspect and countenance.

It makes me pregnant, and to superfete

Such is the vigour of his beams and heat.

Once in a vocal forest I did sing.

And made the oak to stand for Charles my King :

The best of trees, whereof (it is no vaunt)

The greatest schools of Europe sing and chant :

There you shall also find Dame Arhetine,'

Great Henry's daughter, and Great Britain's queen,

Her name engraven in a laurel tree.

And so transmitted to eternity.

For now I hear that Grove speaks besides mine.

The language of the Loire, the Po, and Rhine

(And to my Prince (my sweet Black Prince) of late,

I did a youthful subject dedicate).

Nor do I doubt but that in time my trees

Will yield me fruit to pay Apollo's fees

To offer up whole hecatombs of praise

xxvlii THE VOTE, OR A POEM-ROYAL

To Caesar, if on them he cast his rays,
And if my lamp have oil, I may compile
The modern annals of great Albion's isle,
To vindicate the truth of Charles his reign.
From scribbling pamphleteers who story stain
With loose imperfect passages, and thrust
Lame things upon the world, ta'en up in trust.

I have had audience (in another strain)
Of Europe's greatest kings, when German main
And the Cantabrian waves I crossed, I drank
Of Tagus, Seine, and sat at Tiber's bank.
Through Scylla and Charybdis I have steered.
Where restless Etna's belching flames appeared.
By Greece, once Pallas' garden, then I pass'd.
Now all o'er-spread with ignorance and waste.
Nor hath fair Europe her vast bounds throughout.
An academy of note I found not out.

But now I hope in a successful prore.
The Fates have fixed me on sweet England's shore,
And by these various wanderings true I found.
Earth is our common Mother, every ground
May be one's country, for by birth each man
Is in this world a cosmopolitan,
A free-born burgess, and receives thereby
His denization from nativity.
Nor is this lower world but a huge inn.
And men the rambling passengers, wherein
Some do warm lodgings find, and that as soon
As out of nature's closets they see noon.
And find the table ready laid ; but some
Must for their commons trot and trudge for room.
With easy pace some climb Promotion's Hill,
Some in the dale, do what they can, stick still ;
Some through false glasses Fortune smiling spy.

' OF THE

vMJVERSITY

\ OF

THE VOTE, OR A POEM-ROYAL xxix

Who still keeps off, though she appears hard by :

Some like the ostrich with her wings do flutter,

But cannot fly or soar above the gutter.

Some quickly fetch, and double Good Hope's Cape,

Some ne'er can do 't though the same course they shape.

So that poor mortals are so many balls

Tossed some o'er line, some under fortune's walls.

And it is heaven's high pleasure man should lie
Obnoxious to his partiality.
That by industrious ways he should contend
Nature's short pittance to improve and mend ;
Now, industry never failed, at last to advance
Her patient sons above the reach of chance.

Poet
But whither rov'st thou thus ?

Well ; since I see thou art so strongly bent.
And of a gracious look so confident.
Go, and throw down thyself at Caesar's feet.
And in thy best attire thy sovereign greet.
Go, an auspicious and most blessful year
Wish him, as e'er shined o'er this hemisphere.
Good may the entrance, better the middle be.
And the conclusion best of all the three ;
Of joy ungrudged may each day be a debtor.
And every morn still usher in a better.
May the soft gliding Nones and every Ide,
With all the Calends still some good betide.
May Cynthia with kind looks, and Phoebus' rays.
One clear his nights, the other gild his days.
Free limbs, unphysicked health, due appetite.
Which no sauce else but hunger may excite,
Sound sleeps, green dreams be his, which represent
Symptoms of health, and the next day's content ^

XXX THE VOTE, OR A POEM-ROYAL

Cheerful and vacant thoughts, not always bound
To counsel, or in deep ideas drowned
(Though such late traverses, and tumults might
Turn to a lump of care, the airiest wight) :
And since while fragile flesh doth us array.
The humours still are combating for sway
(Which were they free from this reluctancy
And counterpoised, man would immortal be).
May sanguine o'er the rest predominate
In him, and their malignant flux abate.

May his great queen, in whose imperious eye
Reigns such a world of winning majesty,
Like the rich olive or Falernian vine
Swell with more gems of Scions masculine ;
And as her fruit sprung from the rose and luce
(The best of stems earth yet did e'er produce)
Is tied already by a sanguine lace
To all the kings of Europe's high-born race.
So may they shoot their youthful branches o'er
The surging seas ; and graflF with every shore.

May home commerce and trade increase from far,
Till both the Indies meet within his bar,
And bring in mounts of coin his mints to feed.
And bankers (traffic's chief supporters) breed,
Which may enrich his kingdoms, court and town,
And ballast still the coflFers of the crown,
For kingdoms are as ships, the prince his chests
The ballast, which if empty, when distress't
With storms, their holds are lightly trimmed the keel
Can run no steady course, but toss and reel ;
May his imperial Chamber always ply
To his desires her wealth to multiply,
That she may praise his royal favour more
Than all the wares fetched from the great Mogor, ^

f

^

THE VOTE, OR A POEM-ROYAL xxxi

May the Grand Senate,* with the subject's right,

Put in the counter-scale the regal might.

The flowers o' the crown, that they may prop each other.

And like the Grecian's twin, live, love together.

For the chief glory of a people is.

The power of their king, as their's is his ;

May he be still within himself at home.

That no just passion make the reason roam.

Yet passions have their turns to rouse the soul.

And stir her slumbering spirits, not control ;

For as the ocean besides ebb and flood

(Which Nature's greatest clerk 3 ne'er understood)

Is not for sail, if an impregning wind

Fill not the flagging canvas, so a mind

Too calm is not for action, if desire

Heats not itself at passion's quickening fire,

For Nature is allowed sometimes to muster

Her passions, so they only blow, not bluster.

May Justice still in her true scales appear,
And honour fixed in no unworthy sphere,
Unto whose palace all access should have
Through virtue's temple, not through Pluto's cave.

May his true subjects' hearts be his chief fort,
Their purse his treasure and their love his port,
Their prayers as sweet incense, to draw down
Myriads of blessings on his queen and crown.
» And now that his glad presence did assuage
That fearful tempest in the north did rage.
May those frog vapours in the Irish sky
Be scattered by the beams of majesty.
That the Hibernian lyre give such a sound.
May on our coasts with joyful echoes bound.

And when this fatal planet leaves to lower
Which too, too long on monarchies doth pour

xxxii THE VOTE, OR A POEM-ROYAL

His direful influence, may peace once more

Descend from heaven on our tottering shore,

And ride in triumph both on land and main.

And with her milk-white steeds draw Charles his wain.

That so, for those Saturnian times of old.

An age of pearl may come in lieu of gold.

Virtue still guide his course, and if there be
A thing, as fortune, him accompany.
May no ill genius haunt him, but by 's side,
The best protecting angel ever bide.

May he go on to vindicate the right
Of holy things, and make the temple bright.
To keep that faith, that sacred truth entire.
Which he received from Solomon -♦ his sire.

And since we all must hence, by th' iron decree
Stamped in the black records of destiny.
Late may his life, his glory ne'er wear out.
Till the great year of Plato wheel about.

So prayeth
The worst of poets

to
The best of princes,

yet
The most loyal of

his
Votaries and vassals,

James Howell.

Comment.

' Arhentine, id est virtuous, Anagnm of Henrietta.
' The Parliament. ' Hippocrates.

^ Kingjamet.

TO THE KNOWING READER

TOUCHING

FAMILIAR LETTERS

LOVE is the life of friendship, letters are
The life of love, the loadstones that by rare
Attraction make souls meet, and melt and mix,
As when by fire exalted gold we fix.
They are those winged postillions that can fly ;
From the Antarctic to the Arctic sky,
The heralds and swift harbingers that move
From east to west on embassies of love ;
They can the tropics cut and cross the line.
And swim from Ganges to the Rhone or Rhine,
From Thames to Tagus, thence to Tiber run,
And terminate their journey with the sun :

They can the cabinets of kings unscrew.
And hardest intricacies of State unclew ;
They can the Tartar tell what the Mogor,
Or the Great Turk doth on the Asian shore.
The Knez of them may know what Prester John
Doth with his camels in the torrid zone:
Which made the Indian Inca think they were
Spirits who in white sheets the air did tear.

The lucky goose saved Jove's beleaguered hill.
Once by her noise, but oftener by her quill.
It twice prevented Rome was not o'errun
By the tough Vandal and the rough-hewn Hun.

Letters can plots though mouldered under ground

^

xxxiv TO THE READER

Disclose, and their fell complices confound ;
Witness that fiery pile which would have blown
Up to the clouds, prince, people, peers, and town,
Tribunals, church, and chapel, and had dried
The Thames, though swelling in her highest pride,
And parboiled the poor fish, which from her sands
Had been tossed up to the adjoining lands.
Lawyers as vultures had soared up and down.
Prelates like magpies in the air had flown.
Had not the eagle's letter brought to light
That subterranean horrid work of night.

Credential letters, states, and kingdoms tie.
And monarchs knit in league of amity y
They are those golden links that do enchain
Whole nations though discinded by the main ;
They are the soul of trade, they make commerce
Expand itself throughout the universe.

Letters may more than history enclose
The choicest learning both in verse and prose;
They knowledge can unto our souls display,
By a more gentle and familiar way.
The highest points of state and policy.
The most severe parts of philosophy
May be their subject, and their themes enrich.
As well as private businesses, in which
Friends use to correspond and kindred greet.
Merchants negotiate, the whole world meet.

In Seneca's rich letters is enshrined
Whate'er the ancient sages left behind.
TuUy makes his the secret symptoms tell
Of those distempers which proud Rome befell,
When in her highest flourish she would make
Her Tiber from the Ocean homage take.

TO THE READER xxxv

Great Antonine the emperor did gain
More glory by his letters than his reign.
His pen outlasts his pike, each golden line
In his epistles doth his name enshrine.
Aurelius by his letters did the same,
And they in chief immortalise his fame.

Words vanish soon, and vapour into air.
While letters on record stand fresh and fair.
And tell our nephews who to us were dear,
Who our choice friends, who our familiars were.
The bashful lover when his stammering lips
Falter, and fear some unadvised slips.
May boldly court his mistress with the quill.
And his hot passions to her breast enstil;
The pen can furrow a fond female's heart,
And pierce it more than Cupid's feigned dart.
Letters a kind of magic virtue have.
And like strong philtres human souls enslave.

Speech is the index, letters ideas are
Of the informing soul ; they can declare.
And show the inward man, as we behold
A face reflecting in a crystal mould :
They serve the dead and living, they become
Attorneys and administers in some.

Letters like Gordian knots do nations tie.

Else all commerce and love 'twixt men would die.

J. H.

^

T

TO HIS MAJESTY

iHESE letters, addressed (most of them) to
your best degrees of subjects, do, as so many
lines drawn from the circumference to the centre,
all meet in your Majesty, who, as the law styles
you the fountain of honour and grace, so you
should be the centre of our happiness. If your
Majesty vouchsafe them a gracious aspect, they
may all prove letters of credit, if not credential let-
ters, which sovereign princes use only to author-
ise. They venture to go abroad into the vast ocean
of the world, as letters of mart, to try their for-
tunes ; and your Majesty being the greatest lord
of sea under heaven, is fittest to protect them, and
then they will not fear any human power. More-
^ ^ over, as this royal protection secures them from all
danger, so it will infinitely conduce to the pros-
perity of their voyage, and bring them to safe port
with rich returns.

Nor would these letters be so familiar as to
presume upon so high a patronage, were not many
of them records of your own royal actions ; and
it is well known that letters can treasure up and
transmit matters of State to posterity, with as much
faith, and be as authentic registers and safe reposi-
tories of truth, as any story whatsoever.

This brings them to lie all prostrate at your feet
with their author, who is, sir, your Majesty's most
loyal subject and servant, HOWELL.

EPISTOL^ HO-ELIAN^

SECTION I

BOOK I

SECTION I

I

To Sir J. S., at Leeds Castle

IT was a quaint difference the ancients did put
betwixt a letter and an oration, that the one
should be attired like a woman, the other like a
man. The latter of the two is allowed large side
robes, as long periods, parentheses, similes, ex-
amples, and other parts of rhetorical flourishes:
but a letter or epistle should be short-coated, and
closely couched ; a hungerlin becomes a letter more
handsomely than a gown. Indeed we should write
as we speak, and that 's a true familiar letter which
expresseth one^s mind, as if he were discoursing
with the party to whom he writes in succinct and
short terms. The tongue and the pen are both of I
them interpreters of the mind, but I hold the pen
to be the more faithful of the two. The tongue in
udo positaj being seated in a moist slippery place,
may fail and falter in her sudden extemporal ex-
pressions ; but the pen, having a greater advantage
of premeditation, is not so subject to error, and
leaves things behind it upon firm and authentioj
record. Now, letters, though they be capable of

4 FAMILIAR LETTERS

any subject, yet commonly they are either narra-
tory, objurgatory, consolatory, monitory, or con-
gratulatory. The first consists of relations, the
second of reprehensions, the third of comfort, the
last two of counsel and joy ; there are some who
in lieu of letters write homilies, they preach when
they should epistolise ; there are others that turn
them to tedious tractates ; this is to make letters
degenerate from their true nature. Some modern
authors there are who have exposed their letters to
the world, but most of them, I mean among your
Latin epist6lisers,go freighted with mere Bartholo-
mew ware, with trite and trivial phrases only, listed
with pedantic shreds of schoolboy verses. Others
there are among our next transmarine neighbours
eastward, who write in their own language, but their
style is so soft and easy that their letters may be
said to be like bodies of loose flesh without sinews,
they have neither joints of art nor arteries in them ;
they have a kind of simpering and lank hectic
expressions made up of a bombast of words and
finical affected compliments only. I cannot well
away with such sleazy stuff, with such cobweb com-
positions, where there is no strength of matter,
nothing for the reader to carry away with him, that
may enlarge the notions of his soul. One shall
hardly find an apothegm, example, simile, or any-
thing of philosophy, history, or solid knowledge,
or as much as one new created phrase, in a hun-
dred of them; and to- draw any observations out
of them were as if one went about to distil cream

OF JAMES HOWELL 5

out of froth ; insomuch that it may be said of them,
what was said of the echo, " That she is a mere
sound, and nothing else."

I return you your Balzac by this bearer, and
when I found those letters, wherein he is so famil-
iar with his king, so flat, and those to Richelieu, so
puffed with profane hyperboles, and larded up and
down with such gross flatteries, with others be-
sides which he sends as urinals up and down the
world to look into his water for the discovery of
the crazy condition of his body, I forebore him
further. — So I am your most affectionate servitor,

J.H.

Westminster, 25 July 1625.

II

T^o my Father upon my first going beyond Sea

I SHOULD be much wanting to myself, and
to that obligation of duty, the law of God, and
His handmaid Nature hath imposed upon me, if
I should not acquaint you with the course and
quality of my affairs and fortunes, specially at this
time, that I am upon point of crossing the seas to
eat my bread abroad. Nor is it -th^ common rela-
tion of a son that only induced me hereunto, but
that most indulgent and costly care you have been
pleased (in so extraordinary a manner) to have had
of my breeding (though but one child of fifteen)
by placing me in a choice methodical school (so

6 FAMILIAR LETTERS

far distant from your dwelling) under a learned
(though lashing) master ; and by transplanting me
thence to Oxford, to be graduated ; and so holding
me still up by the chin until I could swim without
bladders. This patrimony of liberal education you
have been pleased to endow me withal, I now
carry along with me abroad, as a sure inseparable
treasure; nor do I feel it any burden or encum-
brance unto me at all. And what danger soever
my person or other things I have about me, do
incur, yet I do not fear the losing of this, either
by shipwreck or pirates at sea, nor by robbers, or
fire, or any other casualty ashore ; and at my re-
turn to England, I hope at leastwise I shall do my
endeavour that you may find this patrimony im-
proved somewhat to your comfort.

The main of my employment is from that gal-
lant knight. Sir Robert Mansell, who, with my
Lord of Pembroke, and divers other of the prime
Lords of the Court, have got the sole patent of
making all sorts of glass with pit-coal, only to
save those huge proportions of wood* which were
consumed formerly in the glass furnaces; and this
business being of that nature, that the workmen
are to be had from Italy, and the chief materials
from Spain, France and other foreign countries,
there is need of an agent abroad for this use (and
better than I have offered their service in this
kind), so that I believe I shall have employment
in all these countries before I ret urn.

Had I continued still steward of the glass-house

OF JAMES HOWELL 7

in Broad Street, where Captain Francis Bacon hath
succeeded me, I should in a short time have melted
away to nothing amongst those hot Venetians, find-
ing myself too green for such a charge ; therefore
it hath pleased God to dispose of me now to a condi-
tion more suitable to my years, and that will, I hope,
prove more advantageous to my future fortunes.

In this my peregrination, if I happen, by some
accident, to be disappointed of that allowance I
am to subsist by, I must make my address to you,
for I have no other rendezvous to flee unto ; but
it shall not be, unless in case of great indigence.

Touching the news of the time. Sir George
Villiers, the new favourite, tapers up apace, and
grows strong at Court. His predecessor, the Earl
of Somerset, hath got a lease of ninety years for
his life, and so hath his articulate lady, called so
for articling against the frigidity and impotence of
her former lord. She was afraid that Coke, the Lord
Chief Justice (who had used such extraordinary
art and industry in discovering all the circum-
stances of the poisoning of Overbury) would
have made white broth of them, but that the pre-
rogative kept them from the pot ; yet the sub-
servient instruments, the lesser flies could not
break through, but lay entangled in the cobweb:
Amongst others. Mistress Turner, the first inven-
tress of yellow starch, was executed in a cobweb
lawn ruff of that colour at Tyburn, and with her
I believe that yellow starch, which so much dis-
figured our nation and rendered them so ridicu-

8 FAMILIAR LETTERS

lous and fantastic, will receive its funeral. Sir
Gervas Elwaies, Lieutenant of the Tower, was
made a notable example of justice and terror to
all officers of trust, for being accessory, and that
in a passive way only to the murder, yet he was
hanged on Tower Hill, and the caveat is very
remarkable which he gave upon the gallows, that
people should be very cautious how they make
vows to heaven, for the breach of them seldom
passes without a judgment, whereof he was a most
ruthful example; for, being in the Low Coun-
tries, and much given to gaming, he once made a
solemn vow (which he broke afterwards) that if
he played above such a sum, he might be hanged.
My Lord (William) of Pembroke did a most
noble act like himself; for the king, having given
him all Sir Gervas Elwaies' estate, which came to
above ^^looo per annum, he freely bestowed it
on the widow and her children.

The latter end of this week I am to go a ship-
board, and first for the Low Countries. I humbly
pray your blessing may accompany me in these
my travels by land and sea, with a continuance
of your prayers, which will be as so many good
gales to blow me to safe port ; for I have been
taught that the parents* benedictions contribute
very much, and have a kind of prophetic virtue
to make the child prosperous. — In this opinion
I shall ever rest, your dutiful son, J. H.

Broad Street in London, this
I of March 1618.

OF JAMES HOWELL 9

III

T(? Dr Francis Mansell, since Principal of

Jesus College in Oxford

BEING to take leave of England, and to
launch out into the world abroad, to breathe
foreign air a while, I thought it very handsome,
and an act well becoming me, to take my leave
also of you and of my dearly honoured mother
Oxford. Otherwise both of you might have just
grounds to exhibit a bill of complaint, or rather
a protest against me, and cry me up ; you for a
forgetful friend ; she, for an ungrateful son, if not
some spurious issue. To prevent this, I salute
you both together: you with the best of my
most candid affections ; her, with my most duti-
ful observance, and thankfulness for the milk she
pleased to give me in that exuberance, had I
taken it in that measure she offered it me while
I slept in her lap ; yet that little I have sucked,
I carry with me now abroad, and hope that this
course of life will help to concoct it to a greater
advantage, having opportunity, by the nature of
my employment, to study men as well as books.
The small time I supervised the glass-house I
got amongst those Venetians some smatterings
of the Italian tongue, which, besides the little I
have, you know, of school languages, is all the.
preparatives I have made for travel. I am to go

lo FAMILIAR LETTERS

this week down to Gravesend, and so eip^ark for
Holland. I have got a warrant from the Lords
of the Council to travel for three years any-
where, Rome and St Omer excepted. I pray let
me retain some room, though never so little, in
your thoughts, during the time of this our separa-
tion, and let our souls meet sometimes by inter-
course of letters. I promise you that yours shall
receive the best entertainment I can make them,
for I love you dearly, dearly well, and value your
friendship at a very high rate. — So with appre-
ciation of as much happiness to you at home as
I shall desire to accompany me abroad, I rest ever
your friend to serve you,

J. H.
London, this 20 of March 161 8.

IV

To Sir James Crofts, Knight, at St Ositb

I COULD not shake hands with England with-
out kissing your hands also; and because,
in regard of your distance now from London, I
cannot do it in person, I send this paper for my
deputy.

The news that keeps greatest noise here now is
the return of Sir Walter Raleigh from his mine
of gold in Guiana, the South parts of America,
which at first was like to be such a hopeful boon
voyage, but it seems that that golden mine is

OF JAMES HOWELL ii

proved a mere chimera, an imaginary airy mine ;
and, indeed, His Majesty had never any other
conceit of it. But what will not one in captivity,
as Sir Walter was, promise, to regain his freedom ?
Who would not promise not only mines, but moun-
tains of gold, for liberty ? And 't is pity such a
knowing, well-weighed knight had not had a better
fortune ; for the Destiny ( I mean that brave ship
which he built himself of that name, that carried
him thither ) is like to prove a fatal destiny to him,
and to some of the rest of those gallant adventu-
rers who contributed for the setting forth of thir-
teen ships more, who were nipst of them his kins-
men and younger brothers, being led into the said
expedition by a general conceit the world had of
the wisdom of Sir Walter Raleigh ; and many of
these are like to make shipwreck of their estates
by this voyage. Sir Walter landed at Plymouth,
whence he thought to make an escape ; and some
say he hath tampered with his body by physic, to
make him look sickly, that he may be the more
pitied, and permitted to lie in his own house. Count
Gondamar, the Spanish Ambassador, speaks high
language, and, sending lately to desire audience of
His Majesty, he said he had but one word to tell
him. His Majesty wondering what might be de-
livered in one word ; when he came before him, he
said only, "Pirates, Pirates, Pirates," and so de-
parted.

*T is true that he protested against this voyage
before, and that it could not be but for some pre-

12 FAMILIAR LETTERS

datory design ; and that if it be as I hear, I fear it
will go very ill with Sir Walter, and that Gonda-
mar will never give him over till he hath his head
off his shoulders, which may quickly be done,
without any new arraignment, by virtue of the
old sentence that lies still dormant against him,
which he could never get oflf by pardon, notwith-
standing that he mainly laboured in it before he
went; but His Majesty could never be brought
to it, for he said he would keep this as a curb to
hold him within the bounds of his commission,
and the good behaviour.

Gondamar cries out that he hath broke the
sacred peace betwixt the two kingdoms, that he
hath fired and plundered Santo Thoma, a colony
the Spaniards had planted with so much blood,
near under the line, which made it prove such
hot service unto him, and where, besides others,
he lost his eldest son in the action; and could
they have preserved the magazine of tobacco only,
besides other things in that town, something might
have been had to countervail the charge of the
voyage. Gondamar allegeth further that, the en-
terprise of the mine failing, he propounded to the
rest of his fleet to go and intercept some of the
Plate-galleons, with other designs which would
have drawn after them apparent acts of hostility,
and so demands justice; besides other disasters
which fell out upon the dashing of the first design,
Captain Remish, who was the main instrument for
discovery of the mine, pistolled himself in a dcs-

OF JAMES HOWELL 13

perate mood of discontent in his cabin, in the Con-
vertine.

This return of Sir Walter Raleigh from Guiana
puts me in mind of a facetious tale I read lately
in Italian (for I have a little of that language
already), how Alfonso, King of Naples, sent a
Moor, who had been his captive a long time, to
Barbary, with a considerable sum of money to buy
horses, and to return by such a time. Now there
was about the king a kind of buffoon or jester who
had a table-book or journal, wherein he was used
to register any absurdity, or impertinence, or merry
passage that happened upon the Court. That day
the Moor was dispatched for Barbary, the said
jester waiting upon the king at supper, the king
called for his journal, and asked what he had ob-
served that day ; thereupon, the jester produced
his table-book, and, amongst other things, he read
how Alfonso, King of Naples, had sent Beltram
the Moor, who had been a long time his prisoner,
to Morocco (his own country) with so many thou-
sand crowns to buy horses. The king asked him
why he inserted that. " Because," said he, " I
think he will never come back to be a prisoner
again, and so you have lost both man and money.
But, if he do come, then your jest is marred."
Quoth the king, " No, sir ; for if he return I will
blot out your name, and put him in for a fool."

The application is easy and obvious ; but the
world wonders extremely that so great a wise man
as Sir Walter Raleigh would return to cast him-

14 FAMILIAR LETTERS

self upon so inevitable a rock, as I fear he will ;
and much more, that such choice men and so great
a power of ships should all come home and do
nothing.

The letter you sent to my father I conveyed
safely the last week to Wales. I am this week,
by God's help, for the Netherlands, and then, I
think, for France. If in this, my foreign employ-
ment, I may be any way serviceable unto you, you
know what power you have to dispose of me, for
I honour you in a very high degree, and will live
and die, your humble and ready servant,

J. H.

London, 28 of March 161 8.

T^o my Brother y after Dr Howe II ^ and now Bishop
of Bristol; from Amsterdam

Brother,

I AM newly landed at Amsterdam, and it is the
first foreign earth I ever set foot upon. I was
pitifully sick all the voyage, for the weather was
rough and the wind untoward, and at the mouth
of the Texel we were surprised by a furious tem-
pest, so that the ship was like to split upon some
of those old stumps of trees wherewith that river is
full ; for in ages past, as the skipper told me, there
grew a fair forest in that channel where the Texel
makes now her bed. Having been so rocked and

OF JAMES HOWELL 15

shaken at sea, when I came ashore, I began to in-
cline to Copernicus his opinion, which has got such
a sway lately in the world, viz., that the earth, as
well as the rest of her fellow-elements, is in per-
petual motion, for she seemed so to me a good
while after I had landed. He that observes the
site and position of this country will never here-
after doubt the truth of that philosophical problem
which keeps so great a noise in the schools, viz.,
that the sea is higher than the earth ; because,
as I sailed along these coasts, I visibly found
it true ; for the ground here, which is all 'twixt
marsh and moorish, lies not only level, but to the
apparent sight of the eye, far lower than the sea ;
which made the Duke of Alva say that the inhabit-
ants of this country were the nearest neighbours to
hell (the great abyss) of any people upon earth,
because they dwell lowest. Most of that ground
they tread is plucked, as it were, out of the very
jaws of Neptune, who is afterwards pent out by
high dykes, which are preserved with incredible
charge, insomuch, that the chief Dyke-grave here
is one of the greatest officers of trust in all the
province, it being in his power to turn the whole
country into a salt loch when he list, and so to put
Hans to swim for his life, which makes it to be
one of the chiefest parts of his litany. From the
sea, the Spaniard, and the devil, the Lord deliver
me. I need not tell you who preserves him from
the last, but from the Spaniard his best friend is the
sea itself, notwithstanding that he fears him as an

i6 FAMILIAR LETTERS

enemy another way : for the sea, stretching him-
self here into divers arms, and meeting with some
of those fresh rivers that descend from Germany
to disgorge themselves into him through these
provinces, most of their towns are thereby incom-
passed with water, which by sluices they can con-
tract or dilate as they list. This makes their towns
inaccessible and out of the reach of cannon ; so
that water may be said to be one of their best
fences, otherwise I believe they had not been able
to have borne up so long against the gigantic power
of Spain.

This city of Amsterdam, though she be a great
staple of news, yet I can impart none unto you at
this time, I will defer that till I come to the Hague.

I am lodged here at one Monsieur De la Cluze,
not far from the Exchange, to make an introduc-
tion into the French ; because I believe I shall
steer my course hence next to the country where
that language is spoken ; but I think I shall so-
journ here about two months longer, therefore I
pray direct your letters accordingly, or any other
you have for me. One of the prime comforts of a
traveller is to receive letters from his friends ; they
beget new spirits in him, and present joyful objects
to his fancy when his mind is' clouded sometimes
with fogs of melancholy ; thereof I pray make me
happy as often as your conveniency will serve with
yours. You may send or deliver them to Captain
Bacon at the Glass House, who will see them
safely sent.

OF JAMES HOWELL 17

So, my dear brother, I pray God bless us both,
and send us after this large distance a joyful meet-
ing. — Your loving brother,

J. H.

Amsterdam, April i, 16 17.

VI
To Dan. Caldwell^ Esq. ; from Amsterdam

My dear Dan.,

I HAVE made your friendship so necessary
unto me for the contentment of my life, that
happiness itself would be but a kind of infelicity
without it. It is as needful to me as fire and
water, as the very air I take in and breathe out ;
it is to me not only necessitudo but necessitas :
therefore I pray let me enjoy it in that fair pro-
portion that I desire to return unto you by way of
correspondence and retaliation. Our first league
of love, you know, was contracted among the
muses in Oxford ; for no sooner was I matricu-
lated to her, but I was adopted to you ; I became
her son and your friend at one time. You know
I followed you then to London, where our love
received confirmation in the Temple and else-
where. We are now far asunder, for no less than
a sea severs us, and that no narrow one, but the
German Ocean: Distance sometimes endears
friendship, and absence sweeteneth it, it much
enhanceth the value of it, and makes it more pre-

1 8 FAMILIAR LETTERS

cious. Let this be verified in us, let that love
which formerly used to be nourished by personal
communication and the lips be now fed by let-
ters ; let the pen supply the oflice of the tongue;
letters have a strong operation, they have a kind
of art-like embraces to mingle souls, and make
^them meet though millions of paces asunder ; by
them we may converse and know how it fares
with each other as it were by intercourse of spirits.
Therefore amongst your civil speculations I pray
let your thought sometimes reflect on me (your
absent self) and wrap those thoughts in paper, and
so send them me over ; I promise you they shall
be very welcome, I shall embrace and hug them
with my best aflFections.

Commend me to Tom Bowyer, and enjoin him
the like. I pray be no niggard in distributing my
love plentifully amongst our friends at the Inns
of Court. Let Jack Toldervy have my kind com-
mends with this caveat, " That the pot which goes
often to the water comes home cracked at last ; "
therefore I hope he will be careful how he makes
the Fleece in Cornhill his thoroughfare too often.
So may my dear Daniel live happy, and love his

J. H.

From Amsterdam, April the lO, 1619.

OF JAMES HOWELL 19

VII

To my Father ; from Amsterdam

I AM lately arrived in Holland in a good plight
of health, and continue yet in this town of
Amsterdam, a town I believe that there are few
of her fellows, being from a mean fishing dorp, come
in a short revolution of time, by a monstrous in-
crease of commerce and navigation, to be one of
the greatest marts of Europe. It is admirable to
see what various sorts of buildings and new fabrics
are now here erecting everywhere ; not in houses
only, but in whole streets and suburbs ; so that it
is thought she will in a short time double her
proportion in business.

I am lodged in a Frenchman's house, who is
one of the deacons of our English Brownists'
Church here ; it is not far from the synagogue of
Jews, who have free and open exercise of their
religion here. I believe in this street where I
lodge there be well near as many religions as
there be houses ; for one neighbour knows not
nor cares not much what religion the other is of,
so that the number of conventicles exceeds the
number of churches here. And let this country
call itself as long as it will the United Provinces
one way, I am persuaded in this point there 's no
place so disunited.

The Dog and Rag Market is hard by, where

20 FAMILIAR LETTERS

every Sunday morning there is a kind of public
mart for those commodities, notwithstanding their
precise observance of the Sabbath.

Upon Saturday last I happened to be in a gen-
tleman's company, who showed me as I walked
along in the streets a long-bearded old Jew of the
tribe of Aaron ; when the other Jews met him
they fell down and kissed his foot. This was that
Rabbi with whom our countryman Broughton had
such a dispute.

This city, notwithstanding her huge trade, is far
inferior to London for populousness ; and this I
infer out of their weekly bills of mortality, which
come not at most but to fifty or thereabout ;
whereas in London the ordinary number is 'twixt
two and three hundred, one week with another.
Nor are there such wealthy men in this town as
in London ; for by reason of the generality of
commerce, the banks, adventures, the common
shares and stocks which most have in the Indian
and other companies, the wealth doth diffuse itself
here in a strange kind of equality, not one of the
burghers being exceeding rich, or exceeding poor.
Insomuch, that I believe our four and twenty
aldermen may buy a hundred of the richest men
in Amsterdam. It is a rare thing to meet with a
beggar here, as rare as to see a horse, they say,
upon the streets of Venice, and this is held to be
one of their best pieces of Government ; for be-
sides the strictness of their laws against mendi-
cants, they have hospitals of all sorts for young

OF JAMES HOWELL ai

and old, both for the relief of the one and the
employment of the other, so that there is no
object here to exercise any act of charity upon.
They are here very neat, though not so magnifi-
cent in their buildings, especially in their frontis-
pieces and first rooms ; and for cleanliness they
may serve for a pattern to all people. They will
presently dress half a dozen dishes of meat with-
out any noise or show at all ; for if one goes to
the kitchen, there will be scarce appearance of
anything but a few covered pots upon a turf fire,
which is their prime fuel. After dinner they fall
a-scouring of those pots, so that the outside will
be as bright as the inside, and the kitchen sud-
denly so clean as if no meat had been dressed
there a month before. They have neither well
nor fountain or any spring of fresh water in or
about all this city, but their fresh water is brought
unto them by boats. Besides, they have cisterns
to receive the rain water which they much use, so
that my laundress, bringing my linen to me one
day, and I commending the whiteness of them,
she answered: That they must needs be white
and fair, for they were washed in aqua coelestiSy
meaning sky water.

'T were cheap living here were it not for the
monstrous excises which are imposed upon all sorts
of commodities, both for belly and back ; for the
retailer pays the States almost the one moiety as
much as he paid for the commodity at first, nor
doth any murmur at it, because it goes not to any

22 FAMILIAR LETTERS

favourite or private purse, but to preserve them
from the Spaniard, their common enemy, as they
term him ; so that the saying is truly verified here,
"Defend me and spend me." With this excise
principally, they maintain all their armies by sea
and land, with their garrisons at home and abroad,
both here and in the Indies, and defray all other
public charges besides.

I shall hence shortly for France, and in my way
take most of the prime towns of Holland and Zea-
land, especially Leyden (the University), where
I shall sojourn some days. — So humbly craving
a continuance of your blessing and prayers, I rest
your dutiful son, J. H.

May the i, 1619.

VIII

To Dr Tbo. Prichard at Jesus College in
Oxford; from Leyden

IT is the royal prerogative of love not to be
confined to that small local compass which cir-
cumscribes the body, but to make his sallies and
progresses abroad to find out and enjoy his desired
object under what region soever. Nor is it the
vast gulf of Neptune, or any distance of place, or
diflTerence of clime can bar him of this privilege. I
never found the experiment hereof so sensibly nor
felt the comfort of it so much as since I shook

OF JAMES HOWELL 23

hands with England. For, though you be in Ox-
ford and I at Leyden, albeit you be upon an island
and I now upon the continent (though the lowest
part of Europe), yet those swift postillions, my
thoughts, find you out daily, and bring you unto
me. I behold you often in my chamber and in
my bed ; you eat, you drink, you sit down, and
walk with me, and my fantasy enjoys you often in
my sleep when all my senses are locked up and my
sou! wanders up and down the world, sometimes
through pleasant fields and gardens, sometimes
through odd uncouth places, over mountains and
broken confused buildings. As my love to you
doth thus exercise his power, so I desire yours to
me may not be idle, but roused up sometimes to
find me out and summon me to attend you in
Jesus College.

I am now here in Leyden, the only academy
besides Franiker of all the United Provinces.
Here are nations of all sorts, but the Germans
swarm more than any. To compare their univer-
sity to yours were to cast New Inn in counterscale
with Christ Church College, or the alms houses on
Tower Hill to Sutton's Hospital. Here are no
colleges at all, God-wot (but one for the Dutch),
nor scarce the face of an university, only there are
general schools where the sciences are read by sev-
eral professors, but all the students are oppidanes.
A small time and less learning will suffice to make
one a graduate ; nor are those formalities of habits
and other decencies here as with you, much less

24 FAMILIAR LETTERS

those exhibitions and support for scholars, with
other encouragements ; insomuch, that the Oxon-
ians and Cantabrigians bona si sua norinty were

they sensible of their own felicity, are the happiest
academians on earth; yet Apollo hath a strong
influence here ; and as Cicero said of them of
Athens : Atbenis pingue coelumy tenuta ingenia (the
Athenians had a thick air and thin wits) ; so I may
say of these Lagdunensians,they have a gross air,
but thin subtle wits (some of them). Witness also
H einsius, Grotius, Arminius, and Baudius. Of the
two last I was told a tale, that Arminius meeting
Baudius one day disguised with drink (wherewith
he would be often) he told him " Tu Baudi dede-
coras nostraxn Academiam, et tu Armeni nostram
Religionem " (Thou Baudius disgracest our Uni-
versity ; and thou Arminius our religion). The
heaven here hath always some cloud in his coun-
tenance ; and from this grossness and spissitude of
air proceeds the slow nature of the inhabitants, yet
this slowness is recompensed with another benefit ;
it makes them patient and constant, as in all other
actions, so in their studies and speculations, though
they use

Crassos transire Dies, lucemque palustrem.

I pray impart my love liberally amongst my
friends in Oxford, and when you can make truce
with your more serious meditations bestow a
thought, drawn into a few lines, upon your J. H.

Leyden, May the 30, 161 9.

OF JAMES HOWELL 25

IX

To Mr Richard Altham^ at bis Chamber in

Gray's Inn

THOUGH you be now a good way out of
my reach, yet you are not out of my remem-
brance ; you are still within the horizon of my love.
Now the horizon of love is large and spacious ; it
is as boundless as that of the imagination, and where
the imagination rangeth, the memory is still busy
to usher in and present the desired object it fixeth
upon. It is love that sets them both on work, and
may be said to be the highest sphere whence they
receive their motion. Thus you appear unto me
often in these foreign travels, and that you may
believe me the better, I send you these lines as my
ambassadors (and ambassadors must not lie) to in-
form you accordingly, and to salute you.

I desire to know how you like Ployden ; I
heard it often said that there is no study requires
patience and constancy more than the common
law, for it is a good while before one comes to any
known perfection in it, and consequently to any
gainful practice. This, I think, made Jack Chaun-
dler throw away his Littleton, like him that when
he could not catch the hare, said : A pox upon her,
she is but dry tough meat, let her go. It is not so
with you, for I know you are of that disposition,
that when you mind a thing, nothing can frighten

26 FAMILIAR LETTERS

you in making constant pursuit after it till you
have obtained it; for if the mathematics with
their crabbedness and intricacy could not deter
you, but that you waded through the very midst
of them and arrived to so excellent a perfection,
I believe it is not in the power of Ployden to das-
tardize or cow your spirits until you have over-
come him, at leastwise have so much of him as
will serve your turn. I know you were always a
quick and pressing disputant in logic and philo-
sophy, which makes me think your genius is fit
for law (as the Baron, your excellent father was),
for a good logician makes always a good lawyer ;
and hereby one may give a strong conjecture of
the aptness or inaptitude of one's capacity to that
study and profession ; and you know as well as I
that logicians who went under the name of soph-
isters, were the first lawyers that ever were.

I shall be upon uncertain removes hence, until
I come to Rouen in France, and there I mean to
cast anchor a good while. I shall expect your let-
ters there with impatience. I pray present my ser-
vice to Sir James Altham and to my good lady,
your mother, with the rest to whom it is due in
Bishopsgate Street and elsewhere. — So I am,
yours in the best degree of friendship,

J.H.

Hague, 30 of May 161 9.

OF JAMES HOWELL ay

X

To Sir James Crofts; from the Hague

THE same observance that a father may chal-
lenge of his child, the like you may claim of
me in regard of the extraordinary care you have
been pleased to have always, since I had the hap-
piness to know you, of the jrourse of my fortunes.
I am now newly come to the Hague, the Court
of the six (and almost seven) confederated pro-
vinces. The Council of State with the Prince of
Orange makes his firm residence here, unless he
be upon a march, and in motion for some design
abroad. This prince (Maurice) was cast in a
mould suitable to the temper of this people. He
is slow and full of wariment, and not without a
mixture of fear ; I do not mean a pusillanimous
but politic fear. He is the most constant in the
quotidian course and carriage of his life of any
that I have ever heard or read of; for whosoever
knows the customs of the Prince of Orange may
tell what he is doing here every hour of the day,
though he be in Constantinople. In the morn-
ing he awaketh about six in summer and seven in
winter. The first thing he doth, he sends one of
his grooms or pages to see how the wind sits, and
he wears or leaves oflF his waistcoat accordingly,
then he is about an hour dressing himself, and
about a quarter of an hour in his closet, then comes

28 FAMILIAR LETTERS

in the secretary, and if he hath any private or
public letters to write, or any other dispatches to
make, he doth it before he stirs from his cham-
ber ; then comes he abroad, and goes to his sta-
bles, if it be no sermon-day, to see some of
his gentlemen or pages (of whose breeding he is
very careful) ride the great horse. He is very
accessible to any that hath business with him, and
showeth a winning kind of familiarity, for he will
shake hands with the meanest boor of the coun-
try, and he seldom hears any commander or gen-
tleman with his hat on. He dines punctually
about twelve, and his table is free for all comers,
but none under the degree of a captain useth to
sit down at it ; after dinner he stays in the room a
good while, and then anyone may accost him, and
tell his tale ; then he retires to his chamber, where
he answers all petitions that were delivered him in
the morning, and towards the evening, if he goes
not to council, which is seldom, he goes either to
make some visits, or to take the air abroad, and ac-
cording to this constant method he passeth his life.
There are great stirs like to arise betwixt the
Bohemians and the elected king, the emperor, and
they are come already to that height, that they
consult of deposing him, and to choose some Pro-
testant prince to be their king, some talk of the
Duke of Saxony, others of the Palsgrave. I be-
lieve the States here would rather be for the latter,
in regard of conformity of religion, the other being
a Lutheran.

OF JAMES HOWELL 29

I could not find in Amsterdam a large Ortelius
in French to send you, but from Antwerp I will
not fail to serve you.

So wishing you all happiness and health, and
that the sun may make many progresses more
through the Zodiac before those comely gray hairs
of yours go to the grave, I rest your very humble
servant, J. H.

June the 3, 1619.

XI

To Captain Francis Bacon^ at the Glass House

in Broad Street

MY last to you was from Amsterdam, since
which time I have traversed the prime
parts of the United Provinces, and I am now in
Zealand, being newly come to this town of Mid-
dleborough, which is njuch crestfallen since the
staple of English cloth was removed hence, as is
Flishing also, her next neighbour, since the de-
parture of the English garrison. A good intelli-
gent gentleman told me the manner how Flish-
ing and the Brill, our two cautionary towns here,
were redeemed, which was thus : The nine hun-
dred and odd soldiers at Flishing and the Ram-
makins hard by, being many weeks without their
pay, they borrowed divers sums of money of the
states of this town, who finding no hopes of sup-
ply from England, advice was sent to the States-

V

30 FAMILIAR LETTERS

General at the Hague, they consulting with Sir
Ralph Winwood, our ambassador (who was a
favourable instrument unto them in this business,
as also in the match with the Palsgrave) sent in-
structions to the Lord Caroon, to acquaint the
Earl of Suffolk, then Lord Treasurer, herewith ;
and in case they could find no satisfaction there,
to make his address to the king himself, which
Caroon did. His Majesty being much incensed
that his subjects and soldiers should starve for
want of their pay in a foreign country, sent for
the Lord Treasurer, who, drawing His Majesty
aside, and telling how empty his exchequer was.
His Majesty told the ambassador that if his mas-
ters, the States, would pay the money they owed
him upon those towns, he would deliver them
up; the ambassador returning the next day to
know whether His Majesty persisted in the same
resolution, in regard that at his former audience,
he perceived him to be a little transported. His
Majesty answered. That he knew the states of
Holland to be his good friends and confederates,
both in point of religion and policy ; therefore
he apprehended not the least fear of any differ-
ence that should fall out between them, in con-
templation whereof, if they desired to have their
towns again, he would willingly surrender them.
Hereupon the States made up the sum presently,
which came in convenient time, for it served to
defray the expenseful progress he made to Scot-
land the summer following. When that money

OF JAMES HOWELL 31

was lent by Queen Elizabeth, it was articled that
interest should be paid upon interest ; and be-
sides, that for every gentleman who should lose
his life in the States' service they should make
good five pounds to the Crown of England. All
this His Majesty remitted, and only took the
principal ; and this was done in requital of that
princely entertainment, and great presents which
my Lady Elizabeth had received in divers of their
towns as she passed to Heidelberg.

The bearer hereof is Signor Antonio Miotti,
who was master of a crystal glass furnace here a
long time, and as I have it by good intelligence, he
is one of the ablest and most knowing men for the
guidance of a glass-work in Christendom. There-
fore according to my instructions I send him over,
and hope to have done Sir Robert good service
thereby. So with my kind respects unto you, and
my most humble service, where you know it is
due, I rest, your affectionate servant,

J. H.

June the 6, idip.

xn

To Sir "J antes Crofts; Antwerp

I PRESUME that my last to you from the
Hague came safe to hand. I am now come to
a more cheerful country, and amongst a people
somewhat more vigorous and mettled, being not

32 FAMILIAR LETTERS

so heavy as the Hollander, or homely as they of
Zealand. This goodly ancient city methinks looks
like a disconsolate widow, or rather some superan-
nuated virgin, that hath lost her lover, being almost
quite bereft of that flourishing commerce, where-
with before the falling oflT the rest of the Provinces
from Spain she abounded, to the envy of all other
cities and marts of Europe. There are few places
this side the Alps, better built, and so well streeted
es this, and none at all so well girt with bastions
and ramparts, which in some places are so spacious
that they usually take the air in coaches upon the
very walls, which are beautified with divers rows of
trees and pleasant walks. The citadel here, though
it be an addition to the stateliness and strength of
the town, yet it serves as a shrewd curb unto her,
which makes her champ upon the bit, and foam
sometimes with anger, but she cannot help it. The
tumults in Bohemia now grow hotter and hotter ;
they write how the great council at Prague fell to
such a hurliburly that some of those senators who
adhered to the Emperor were thrown out at the
windows, where some were maimed, some broke
their necks. I am shortly to bid a farewell to the
Netherland, and to bend my course for France,
where I shall be most ready to entertain any com-
mands of yours. So may all health and happi-
ness attend you, according to the wishes of your
obliged servant,

J. H.
July 5, 1619.

OF JAMES HOWELL 33

XIII

To Dr Thomas Prichard, at Oxford; from Rouen

1H AVE now taken firm footing in France, and
though France be one of the chiefest climates
of compliment, yet I can use none towards you,
but tell you in plain downright language that in
the list of those friends I left behind me in Eng-
land, you are one of the prime rank, one whose
name I have marked with the whitest stone. If
you have gained such a place amongst the choicest
friends of mine, I hope you will put me some-
where amongst yours, though I but fetch up the
rear, being contented to be the infima species^ the
lowest in the predicament of your friends.

I shall sojourn a good while in this city of
Rouen, therefore I pray make me happy with the
comfort of your letters, which I shall expect with
a longing impatience. I pray send me ample ad-
vertisement of your welfare, and of the rest of
our friends, as well upon the banks of Isis as
amongst the British mountains. I am but a fresh
man yet in France, therefore I can send you no
news, but that all is here quiet, and it is no ordi-
nary news that the French should be quiet. But
some think this calm will not last long, for the
Queen Mother (late Regent) is discontented being
restrained from coming to the Court, or to the
city of Paris, and the tragical death of her favour-

34 FAMILIAR LETTERS

ite (and foster-brother), the late Marquis of Ancre,
lieth yet in her stomach undigested. She hath the
Duke of Espernon, and divers other potent
princes, that would be strongly at her devotion
(as it is thought), if she would stir. I pray pre-
sent my service to Sir Eubule Thelwall, and send
me word with what pace Jesus College new walls
go up. I will borrow my conclusion to you at
this time of my countryman Owen —

Uno non possum quantum te diligo versu
Dicere, si satis est distichonj ecce duos.

I camiot in one verse my love declare.

If two will serve the turn, lo! here they are.

Whereunto I will add this surname Anagram. —
Yours whole, J. Howel.

Aug. 6, 1619.

XIV
To Dan. Caldwell^ Esq. ; from Rouen

My dear Dan.,
HEN I came first to this town, amongst

w

other objects of contentment which I
found here, whereof there are variety, a letter of
yours was brought me, and *t was a she-letter, for
two more were enwombed in her body ; she had
an easy and quick deliverance of that twin ; but
besides them, she was big and pregnant of divers

OF JAMES HOWELL 35

sweet pledges, and lively evidences of your own
love towards me, whereof I am as fond as any
mother can be of her child. I shall endeavour to
cherish and foster this dear love of yours with all
the tenderness that can be, and warm it at the fuel
of my best affections to make it grow every day
stronger and stronger, until it comes to the state
of perfection, because I know it is a true and real,
it is no spurious or adulterated love. If I intend
to be so indulgent and careful of yours I hope you
will not suffer mine to starve with you ; my love
to you needs not much tending, for it is a lusty
strong love, and will not easily miscarry.

I pray, when you write next, to send me a dozen
pair of the best white kidskin gloves the Royal
Exchange can afford ; as also two pair of the pur^
est white worsted stockings you can get of women
size, together with half a dozen pairs of knives.
I pray, send your man with them to Vacandary,
the French post upon Tower Hill, who will bring
them me safely. When I go to Paris I shall send
you some curiosities, equivalent to these. I have
here enclosed returned an answer to those two
that came in yours ; I pray, see them safely deliv-
ered. My kind respects to your brother sergeant
at Court, to all at Battersea, or anywhere else where
you think my commendations may be well placed.

No more at this time, but that I recommend you
to the never-failing providence of God, desiring
you to go on in nourishing still between us that
love which, for my part —

36 FAMILIAR LETTERS

No tnvenes of chance, of 6mc, or &te»

Shall ere extmgnish till our fives' last date.

But as the vine her lovely elm doth wire.

Grasp both our hearts, and flame with fresh desire.

Yours, J. H.

Rouen, j4ug. 13, 16 19.

XV
To my Father ; from Rouen

YOURS of the third of August came to safe
hand in an enclosed from my brother; you
may make easy conjecture how welcome it was unto
me, and to what a height of comfort it raised my
spirits, in regard it was the first I received from you
since I crossed the seas ; I humbly thank you for
the blessing you sent along with it.

I am now upon the fair continent of France, one
of nature's choicest masterpieces, one of Ceres'
chiefest barns for corn, one of Bacchus' prime wine
cellars and of Neptune's best salt pits; a complete
self-sufficient country, where there is rather a super-
fluity than defect of anything, either for necessity
or pleasure; did the policy of the country corre-
spond with the bounty of nature in the equal dis-
tribution of the wealth amongst the inhabitants, for
I think there is not upon the earth a richer coun-
try and poorer people. 'Tis true, England hath a
good repute abroad for her fertility, yet, be our har-
vest never so kindly and our crops never so plenti-

OF JAMES HOWELL 37

fill, we have every year commonly some grain from
thence or from Danzic and other places imported
by the merchant; besides, there be many more
heaths, commons, bleak-barren hills, and waste
grounds in England by many degrees than I find
here ; and I am sorry our country of Wales should
give more instances hereof than any other part.

This province of Normandy, once an appendix
of the Crown of England, though it want wine, yet
it yields the king as much demesnes as any one of
the rest. The lower Norman hath cider for his
common drink ; and I visibly observed that they
are more plump and replete in their bodies, and of
a clearer complexion than those that drink alto-
gether wine. In this great city of Rouen there be
many monuments of the English nation yet extant.
On the outside of the highest steeple of the great
church there is the word of God engraven in huge
golden characters, every one almost as long as my-
self to make them the more visible. In this steeple
hangs also the greatest bell of Christendom, called
d'Amboise^ for it weighs near upon forty thousand
pounds weight. There is also here Saint Ouen, the
greatest sanctuary in the city, founded by one of
our compatriots, as the name imports. This pro-
vince is also subject to wardships, and no other part
of France besides; but whether the Conqueror
transported that law to England from hence, or
whether he sent it over from England hither, I
cannot resolve you. There is a marvellous quick
trade beaten in this town, because of the great

38 FAMILIAR LETTERS

navigable river Sequena (the Seine) that runs hence
to Paris, whereon there stands a strange bridge
that ebbs and flows, that rises and falls with the
river, it being made of boats, whereon coach and
carts may pass over as well as men ; besides, this
is the nearest mercantile city that stands *twixt
Paris and the sea.

My last unto you was from the Low Countries,
where I was in motion to and fro above four
months ; but I fear it miscarried in regard you
make no mention of it in yours.

I begin more and more to have a sense of the
' sweetness and advantage of foreign travel. I pray,
when you come to London to find a time to visit
Sir Robert, and acknowledge his great favours
to me, and desire a continuance thereof, accord-
ing as I shall endeavourt o deserve them. — So,
with my due and daily prayers for your health,
and a speedy successful issue of all your law busi-
ness, I humbly crave your blessing, and rest,
your dutiful son, J. H.

September the 7, 16 19.

XVI

To Captain Francis Bacon ; from Paris

I RECEIVED two of yours in Rouen with
the bills of exchange there inclosed, and accord-
ing to your directions I sent you those things
which you wrote for.

OF JAMES HOWELL 39

I am now newly come to Paris, this huge mag-
azine of men, the epitome of this large populous
kingdom and rendezvous of all foreigners. The
structures here are indifferently fair, though the
streets generally foul, all the four seasons of the
year, which I impute first, to the position of the
city being built upon an isle (the Isle of France,
made so by the branching and serpentine course .
of the river of Seine), and having some of her sub-
urbs seated high, the filth runs down the channel
and settles in many places within the body of the
city, which lieth upon a fiat ; as also for a world
of coaches, carts, and horses of all sorts that go to
and fro perpetually, so that sometimes one shall
meet with a stop half a mile long of those coaches,
carts, and horses that can move neither forward
nor backward by reason of some sudden encounter
of others coming a cross-way, so that often times
it will be an hour or two before they can disen-
tangle. In such a stop the great Henry was so
fatally slain by Ravillac. Hence comes it to pass
that this town (for Paris is a town, a city, and a
University) is always dirty, and it is such a dirt,
that by perpetual motion is beaten into such a
thick black unctuous oil that where it sticks no art
can wash it off of some colours, insomuch that it
may be no improper comparison to say, that an
ill name is like the crot (the dirt) of Paris, which is
indelible ; besides the stain this dirt leaves, it gives
also so strong a scent that it may be smelt many
miles off if the wind be in one's face as he comes

40 FAMILIAR LETTERS

from the fresh air of the country. This may be one
cause why the plague is always in some corner or
other of this vast city, which may be called, as
once Scythia was. Vagina populorum, or (as man-
kind was called by a great philosopher) a great
molehill of ants. Yet I believe this city is not so
populous as she seems to be, for her form being
. round (as the whole kingdom is) the passengers
wheel about and meet oftener than they use to do
in the long continued streets of London, which
makes London appear less populous than she is
indeed, so that London for length (though not
for latitude), including Westminster, exceeds
Paris, and hath in Michaelmas term more souls
moving within her in all places. It is under one
hundred years that Paris is become so sumptuous
and strong in buildings ; for her houses were mean
until a mine of white stone was discovered hard
by, which runs in a continued vein of earth and
is digged out with ease, being soft, and is between
a white clay and chalk at first, but being pullied
up, with the open air it receives a crusty kind of
hardness and so becomes perfect freestone ; and
before it is sent up from the pit they can reduce
it to any form. Of this stone the Louvre, the
king's palace, is built, which is a vast fabric, for
the gallery wants not much of an Italian mile in
length, and will easily lodge 3000 men, which
some told me was the end for which the last king
made it so big, that lying at the fag-end of this
great mutinous city, if she perchance should rise,

OF JAMES HOWELL 41

the king might pour out of the Louvre so many
thousand men unawares into the heart of her,

I am lodged here hard by the Bastile, because it
is furthest off from those places where the English
resort, for I would go on to get a little language as
soon as I could. In my next I shall impart unto
you what State news France affords. — In the in-
terim, and always, I am, your humble servant,

J. H.
Paris, the ^^o of March 1620.

XVII

To Richard Altham^ Esquire ; from Paris

LOVE is the marrow of friendship and letters
are the elixir of love. They are the best fuel
of affection, and cast a sweeter odour than any
frankincense can do. Such an odour, such an
aromatic perfume your late letter brought with it,
proceeding from the fragrancy of those dainty
flowers of eloquence, which I found blossoming as
it were in every line ; I mean those sweet expres-
sions of love and wit, which in every period were
intermingled with so much art that they seemed to
contend for mastery which was the strongest. I
must confess, that you put me to hard shifts to
correspond with you in such exquisite strains and
raptures of love, which were so lively that I must
needs judge them to proceed from the motions,
from the diastole and systole of a heart truly

42 FAMILIAR LETTERS

affected. Certainly your heart did dictate every
syllable you wrote, and guided your hand all
along. Sir, give me leave to tell you, that not a
dram, nor a dose, nor a scruple of this precious
love of yours is lost, but is safely treasured up in
my breast, and answered in like proportion to the
full ; mine to you is as cordial, it is passionate and
perfect, as love can be.

I thank you for the desire you have to know
how it fares with me abroad. I thank God I am
perfectly well, and well contented with this wan-
dering course of life awhile. I never enjoyed my
health better, but I was like to endanger it two
nights ago; for being in some jovial company
abroad, and coming late to our lodging, we were
suddenly surprised by a crew oi filous or night
rogues, who drew upon us, and as we had ex-
changed some blows, it pleased God the Cheva-
lieur de Guet, an officer who goes up and down
the streets all night on horseback to prevent dis-
orders, passed by, and so rescued us ; but Jack
White was hurt, and I had two thrusts in my
cloak. There is never a night passeth but some
robbing or murder is committed in this town, so
that it is not safe to go late anywhere, specially
about the Pont-Neuf, the New Bridge, though
Henry the Great himself lies sentinel there in
arms, upon a huge Florentine horse, and sits
bare to every one that passeth, an improper pos-
ture methinks to a king on horseback. Not long
since, one of the secretaries of State (whereof

OF JAMES HOWELL 43

there are always four) having been invited to
the suburbs of Saint Germains to supper, left or-
der with one of his lackeys to bring him his horse
about nine. It so happened, that a mischance be-
fell the horse, which lamed him as he went a water-
ing to the Seine, insomuch that the secretary was
put to beat the hoof himself, and foot it home ;
but as he was passing the Pont-Neuf with his
lackey carrying a torch before him, he might over-
hear a noise of clashing of swords and fighting,
and looking under the torch and perceiving they
were but two, he bade his lackey go on ; they had
not made many paces, but two armed men, with
their pistols cocked and swords drawn, made puff-
ing- towards them, whereof one had a paper in his
hand, which he said he had casually took up in
the streets, and the difference between them was
about that paper; therefore they desired the sec-
retary to read it, with a great deal of compliment.
The secretary took out his spectacles and fell a
reading of the said paper, whereof the substance
was : " That it should be known to all men, that
whosoever did pass over that bridge after nine
o'clock at night in winter, and ten in summer,
was to leave his cloak behind him, and in case of
no cloak his hat." The secretary starting at this,
one of the comrades told him that he thought
that paper concerned him ; so they unmantled
him of a new plush cloak, and my secretary was
content to go home quietly, and en cuerpo. This
makes me think often of the excellent nocturnal

44 FAMILIAR LETTERS

government of our city of London, where one
may pass and repass securely all hours of the
night, if he give good words to the watch.
There is a gentle calm of peace now throughout
all France, and the king intends to make a pro-
gress to all the frontier towns of the kingdom, to
see how they are fortified. The favourite, Luines,
strengtheneth himself more and more in his min-
ionship, but he is much murmured at in regard
the access of suitors to him is so difficult, which
made a lord of this land say, ^' That three of the
hardest things in the world were, to quadrat a
circle, to find out the philosopher's stone, and to
speak with the Duke of Luines."

I have sent you by Vacandary the post, the
French bever and tweeses you wrote for. Bever
hats are grown dearer of late, because the Jesuits
have got the monopoly of them from the king.

Farewell dear child of virtue and minion of the
muses, and continue to love your, J. H.

Paris, I of May 1620.

XVIII
T^o Sir "James Crofts ; from Paris

I AM to set forward this week for Spain, and if
I can find no commodity of embarkation at
Saint Malos, I must be forced to journey it all the
way by land, and clamber up the huge Pyreney
hills : but I could not bid Paris adieu till I had

OF JAMES HOWELL 45

conveyed my true and constant respects to you by
this letter. I was yesterday to wait upon Sir Her-
bert Crofts at Saint Germains, where I met with a
French gentleman, who, amongst other curiosities,
which he pleased to show me up and down Paris,
brought me to that place where the late king was
slain, and to that where the Marquis of Ancre was
shot, and so made me a punctual relation of all
the circumstances of those two acts, which in re-
gard they were rare, and I believe two of the
notablest accidents that ever happened in France,
I thought it worth the labour to make you par-
taker of some part of his discourse.

France, as all Christendom besides (for there
was then a truce betwixt Spain and the Hollander)
was in a profound peace, and had continued so
twenty years together, when Henry the Fourth
fell upon some great martial design, the bottom
whereof is not known to this day ; and being rich
(for he had heaped up in the Bastile a mount of
gold that was as high as a lance) he levied a huge
army of 40,000 men, whence came the song, " The
King of France with forty thousand men; " and
upon a sudden he put this army in perfect equi-
page, and some say he invited our Prince Henry to
come unto him to be a sharer in his exploits. But
going one afternoon to the Bastile to see his trea-
sure and ammunition, his coach stopped suddenly,
by reason of some colliers and other carts that
were in that narrow street ; whereupon one Ravil-
lac, a lay- Jesuit (who had a whole twelve-month

46 FAMILIAR LETTERS

watched an opportunity to do the act), put his
foot boldly upon one of the wheels of the coach,
and with a long knife stretched himself over their
shoulders who were in the boot of the coach, and
reached the king at the end, and stabbed him right
in the left side to the heart, and pulling out the
fatal steel, he doubled his thrust ; the king with a
ruthful voice cried out, " Je suis blesse " (I am
hurt), and suddenly the blood issued at his mouth.
The regicide villain was apprehended, and com-
mand given that no violence should be offered
him, that he might be reserved for the law, and
some exquisite torture. The queen grew half-dis-
tracted hereupon, who had been crowned Queen of
France the day before in great triumph ; but a few
days after she had something to countervail, if not
to overmatch her sorrow ; for according to Saint
Lewis law, she was made Queen Regent of France
during the king's minority, who was then but
about ten years of age. Many consultations were
held how to punish Ravillac, and there were some
Italian physicians that undertook to prescribe a
torment, that should last a constant torment for
three days, but he escaped only with this: his
body was pulled between four horses, that one
might hear his bones crack, and after the disloca-
tion they were set again, and so he was carried in
a cart standing half naked, with a torch in that
hand which had committed the murder; and in
the place where the act was done, it was cut off,
and a gauntlet of hot oil was clapped upon the

OF JAMES HOWELL 47

stump, to staunch the blood, whereat he gave a
doleful shriek ; then was he brought upon a stage,
where a new pair of boots was provided for him,
half-filled with boiling oil ; then his body was pin-
cered, and hot oil poured into the holes. In all
the extremity of this torture, he scarce showed any
sense of pain but when the gauntlet was clapped
upon his arms to staunch the flux, at that time of
reeking blood, he gave a shriek only. He bore up
against all these torments about three hours before
he died. All the confession that could be drawn
from him was " that he thought to have done God
good service, to take away that king, which would
have embroiled all Christendom in an endless
war."

A fatal thing it was that France should have
three of her kings come to such violent deaths in
so short a revolution of time. Henry the Second,
running a tilt with Monsieur Montgomery, was
killed by a splinter of a lance that pierced his
eye ; Henry the Third, not long after, was killed
by a young friar, who, in lieu of a letter which
he pretended to have for him, pulled out of his
long sleeve a knife, and thrust him into the bot-
tom of the belly as he was coming from his close-
stool, and so despatched him ; but that regicide
was hacked to pieces in the place by the nobles.
The same destiny attended this king by Ravillac,
which is become now a common name of re-
proach and infamy in France.

Never was king so much lamented as this.

48 FAMILIAR LETTERS

There arc a world not only of his pictures, but
statues, up and down France, and there is scarce
a market-town but hath him erected in the mar-
ket-place, or over some gate, not upon sign-posts,
as our Henry the Eighth, and by a public Act
of Parliament, which was confirmed in the con-
sistory at Rome, he was entitled Henry the Great,
and so placed in the Temple of Immortality. A
notable prince he was, and of an admirable tem-
per of body and mind ; he had a graceful focetious
way to gain both love and awe; he would be
never transported beyond himself with choler,
but he would pass by anything with some repartee,
some witty strain, wherein he was excellent. I will
instance in a few which were told me from a good
hand. One day he was charged by the Duke of
Bouillon to have changed his religion, he an-
swered, "No, cousin, I have changed no religion,
but an opinion ; " and the Cardinal of Perron
being by, he enjoined him to write a treatise for
his vindication. The cardinal was long about the
work, and when the king asked from time to time
where his book was, he would still answer him
" that he expected some manuscripts from Rome
before he could finish it." It happened that one
day the king took the cardinal along with him to
look on his workmen and new buildings at the
Louvre ; and passing by one corner which had
been a long time begun, but left unfinished, the
king asked the chief mason why that corner was
not all this while perfected. " Sir, it is because I

OF JAMES HOWELL 49

want some choice stones." " No, no," said the
king, looking upon the cardinal, " it is because
thou wantest manuscripts from Rome." Another
time, the old Duke of Main, who was used to
play the droll with him, coming softly into his
bed-chamber, and thrusting in his bald head and
long neck in a posture to make the king merry,
it happened the king was coming from doing his
ease, and spying him, he took the round cover of
the close-stool and clapped it on his bald-sconce,
saying, " Ah, cousin, you thought once to have
taken the crown off of my head, and wear it on
your own ; but this off my tail shall now serve
your turn." Another time, when at the siege of
Amiens, he having sent for the Count of Soissons
(who had 100,000 franks a year pension from the
Crown) to assist him in those wars, and that the
count excused himself by reason of his years and
poverty, having exhausted himself in the former
wars, and all that he could do now was to pray for
His Majesty, which he would do heartily. This
answer being brought to the king, he replied :
" Will my cousin, the Count of Soissons, do no-
thing else but pray for me ; tell him that prayer
without fasting is not available ; therefore I will
make my cousin fast also from his pension of
100,000 per annum."

He was once troubled with a fit of the gout,
and the Spanish ambassador coming then to visit
him, and saying he was sorry to see His Majesty
so lame, he answered : " As lame as I am, if there

50 FAMILIAR LETTERS

were occasion, your master the King of Spain
should no sooner have his foot in the stirrup, but
he should find me on horseback."

By these few you may guess at the genius of
this spiritfiil prince. I could make many more
instances, but then I should exceed the bounds
of a letter. When I am in Spain you shall hear
further from me, and if you can think on any-
thing wherein I may serve you, believe it, sir,
that any employment from you shall be welcome
to your much obliged servant, J. H.

Paris, 12 of May 1620,

XIX

T^o my Brother^ Dr. Howell

Brother,

BEING to-morrow to part with Paris and begin
my journey for Spain, I thought it not amiss
to send you this, in regard I know not when I
shall have opportunity to write unto you again.

This kingdom, since the young king hath taken
the sceptre into his own hands, doth flourish very
much with quietness and commerce; nor is there
any motion or the least tintamar of trouble in any
part of the country, which is rare in France. 'Tis
true, the queen mother is discontented since she
left her regency, being confined, and I know not
what it may come unto in time, for she hath a

OF JAMES HOWELL 51

strong party, and the murdering of her Marquis of
Ancre will yet bleed as some fear.

I was lately in society of a gentleman, who was a
spectator of that tragedy, and he pleased to relate
unto me the particulars of it, which was thus :
When Henry the Fourth was slain, the queen dow-
ager took the reins of the government into her
hands during the young king's minority; and
amongst others whom she advanced, Signior Con-
chino, a Florentine, and her foster-brother was one.
Her countenance came to shine so strongly upon
him that he became her only confidant and favourite,
insomuch that she made him Marquis of Ancre,
one of the twelve Marshals of France, Governor of
Normandy, and conferred divers other honours
and oiBces of trust upon him, and who but he. The
princes of France could not endure this domineer-
ing of a stranger, therefore they leagued together
to suppress him by arms. The queen regent hav-
ing intelligence thereof, surprised the Prince of
Cond6 and clapped him up in the Bastile. The
Duke of Main fled hereupon to Peronne in
Py cardie, and other great men put themselves in an
armed posture to stand upon their guard. The
young king being told that the Marquis of Ancre
was the ground of this discontentment, commanded
Monsieur de Vitry, Captain of his Guard, to arrest
him, and in case of resistance to kill him. This
business was carried very closely till the next morn-
ing, that the said marquis was coming to the Louvre
with a ruffling train of gallants after him, and pass-

O^ THE '^

'VERSITV

OF

52 FAMILIAR LETTERS

ing over the drawbridge at the court gate, Viny
stood there with the king's guard about him, and
as the marquis entered he told him that he had a
commission from the king toapprehend him; there-
fore, he demanded his sword. The marquis here-
upon put his hand upon his sword, some thought
to yield it up, others to make opposition ; in the
meantime Vitry discharged a pistol at him, and so
despatched him. The king, being above in his
gallery, asked what noise that was below? One
smilingly answered, "Nothing, sir; but that the
Marshal of Ancre is slain." "Who slew him?"
"The Captain of your guard." "Why?" "Because
he would have drawn his sword at your Majesty's
Royal Commission." Then the king replied," Vitry
hath done well, and I will maintain the act." Pres-
ently the queenmother had all her guard taken from
her, except six men and sixteen women, and so she
was banished Paris and commanded to retire
to Blois. Ancre's body was buried that night in
a church hard by the court, but the next morn-
ing, the lackeys and pages (who are more unhappy
here than the apprentices in London) broke up his
grave, tore his coffin to pieces, ripped the winding-
sheet, and tied his body to an ass's tail, and so
dr^ged him up and down the gutters of Paris,
which are none of the sweetest; they then flicked
oiF his ears and nailed them upon the gates of the
dty,they cut off his genltories (and they say he was
hung like an ass),and sent them fora present to the
Duke of Main, the rest of his body they carried to

OF JAMES HOWELL 53

the new bridge, and hung him his heels upwards,and
head downwards, upon a new gibbet that had been
set up a little before to punish them who should
speak ill of the present Government, and it was
his chance to have the maidenhead of it himself.
His wife was hereupon apprehended, imprisoned,
and beheaded for a witch some few days after upon
a surmise that she had enchanted the queen to
dote so upon her husband; and they say the young
king's picture was found in her closet in virgin wax,
with one leg melted away. A little after a process
was formed against the marquis (her husband) and
so he w^ condemned after death. This was a
right act of a French popular fury, which like an
angry torrent is irresistible, nor can any banks,
boundaries, or dykes stop the impetuous rage of it.
How the young king will prosper after so high and
unexampled an act of violence, by beginning his
reign, and embruing the walls of his own court
with blood in that manner, there are diverse cen-
sures.

When I am settled in Spain you shall hear from
me. In the interim I pray let your prayers accom-
pany me in this long journey, and when you write
to Wales I pray acquaint our friends with my wel-
fare. So I pray God bless us both, and send us a
happy interview. — Your loving brother,

J. H.

Paris, 8 September 1620.

54 FAMILIAR LETTERS

To my Cousin^ W. Vaugban^ Esq.; from

Saint Malo

Cousin,

I AM now in French Brittany. I went back
from Paris to Rouen, and so through all Low
Normandy to a little port called Granville, where
I embarked for this town of Saint Malo, but I did
purge so violently at sea that it put me into a
burning fever for some few days, whereof (I thank
God) I am newly recovered, and finding no
opportunity of shipping here I must be forced to
turn my intended sea voyage to a long land
journey.

Since I came to this province I was curious to
converse with some of the lower Bretons who speak
no other language but our Welsh, for their radical
words are no other, but *tis no wonder, for they
were a colony of Welsh at first, as the name of this
province doth imply, as also the Latin name
Armorica, which though it pass for Latin, yet it is
but pure Welsh, and signifies a country bordering
upon the sea, as that arch heretic was called Pela-
gius,a Pelago, his name being Morgan. I was a little
curious to peruse the annals of this province, and
during the time that it was a kingdom there were
four kings of the name Hoell, whereof one was
called Hoell the Great.

OF JAMES HOWELL 55

This town of Saint Malo hath one rarity in it,
for there is here a perpetual garrison of English,
but they are of English dogs, which are let out in
the night to guard the ships, and eat the carrion
up and down the streets, and so they are shut up
again in the morning.

It will be now a good while before I shall have
convenience to send to you or receive from you.
Howsoever, let me retain still some little room in
your memory, and some time in your meditations,
while I carry you about me perpetually, not only
in my head, but in heart, and make you travel all
along with me thus from town to country, from
hill to dale, from sea to land, up and down the
world. And you must be contented to be subject
to these uncertain removes and perambulations,
until it shall please God to fix me again in Eng-
land. Nor need you, while you are thus my con-
comitant through new places every day, to fear
any ill-usage as long as I fare well. — Yours
Xpyjcei, Kat icTT/crct, J. H.

St. Malo, 25 of September 1620.

XXI

T^o Sir John Norths Knight ; from Rochelle

I AM newly come to Rochelle, nor am I sorry
that I went somewhat out of my way to see
this town, not (to tell you true) out of any extra-
ordinary love I bear to the people ; for I do not

56 FAMILIAR LETTERS

find them so gentle and debonair to strangers, nor
so hospitable as the rest of France, but I excuse
them for it, in regard it is commonly so with all
republic and Hans towns, whereof this smells very
rank; nor indeed hath any Englishman much
cause to love this town, in regard in ages past she
played the most treacherous part with England of
any other place in France. For the story tells us
that this town, having by a perfidious stratagem
(by forging a counterfeit commission from Eng-
land) induced the English governor to make a
general muster of all his forces out of the town,
this being one day done, they shut their gates
against him, and made him go shake his ears, and
to shift for his lodging, and so rendered themselves
to the French king, who sent them a blank to
write their own conditions. I think they have the
strongest ramparts by sea of any place of Christen-
dom, nor have I seen the like in any town of
Holland, whose safety depends upon water. I am
bound to-morrow for Bordeaux, then through
Gascony to Toulouse, so through Languidoc over
the hills to Spain. I go in the best season of the
year, for I make an autumnal journey of it. I
pray let your prayers accompany me all along.
They are the best officers of love and fruits of
friendship. So God prosper you at home, as me
abroad, and send us in good time a joyful conjunc-
ture. — Yours, J. H.
Rochelle, 8 of October 1620.

OF JAMES HOWELL 57

XXII

To Mr Tbo. Porter, after Capt. Porter ;

from Barcelona

My dear Tom,

I HAD no sooner set foot upon this soil and
breathed Spanish air but my thoughts presently
reflected upon you. Of all my friends in England,
you were the first I met here ; you were the prime
object of my speculation. Methought the very
winds in gentle whispers did breathe out your
name and blow it on me. You seemed to rever-
berate upon me with the beams of the sun, which
you know hath such a powerful influence, and, in-
deed, too great a stroke in this country. And all
this you must ascribe to the operations of love,
which hath such a strong virtual force that when
it fasteneth upon a pleasing subject, it sets the im-
agination in a strange fit of working ; it employs
all the faculties of the soul, so that not one cell in
the brain is idle ; it busieth the whole inward man,
it aflFects the heart, amuseth the understanding, it
quickeneth the fancy, and leads the will as it were
by a silken thread to co-operate with them all. I
have felt these motions often in me, especially at
this time, that my memory fixed upon you. But
the reason that I fell first upon you in Spain was
that I remembered I had heard you often discours-
ing how you have received part of your education
here, which brought you to speak the language so

58 FAMILIAR LETTERS

exactly well : I think often of the relations I have
heard you make of this country and the good in-
structions you pleased to give me.

I am now in Barcelona, but the next week I
intend to go on through your town of Valencia
to Alicante, and thence you shall be sure to hear
from me further, for I make account to winter
there. The Duke of Ossuna passed by here lately,
and having got leave of grace to release some
slaves, he went aboard the Cape Gallic, and pass-
ing through the churma of slaves, he asked divers
of them what their offences were. Everyone ex-
cused himself, one saying that he was put in out
of malice, another by bribery of the judge, but all
of them unjustly. Amongst the rest there was one
sturdy little black man, and the duke asking him
what he was in for, " Sir, " said he, "I cannot deny
but I am justly put in here, for I wanted money,
and so took a purse hard by Tarragona to keep
me from starving." The duke with a little staff
he had in his hand gave him two or three blows
upon the shoulders, saying, " You rogue, what do
you do amongst so many honest, innocent men ?
Get you gone out of their company." So he was
freed, and the rest remained still in statu quo primus
to tug at the oar.

I pray commend me to Signior Camillo and
Mazalao, with the rest of the Venetians with you,
and when you go aboard the ship behind the ex-
change, think upon yours, J. H.

Barcelona, lo of November 1620.

OF JAMES HOWELL 59

XXIII
To Sir James Crofts

I AM now a good way within the body of Spain
at Barcelona, a proud wealthy city, situated
upon the Mediterranean, and is the metropolis of
the Kingdom of Catalonia, called of old Hispania
Tarraconensis. I had much ado to reach hither,
for besides the monstrous abruptness of the way,
these parts of the Pyrenese that border upon the
Mediterranean are never without thieves by land
(called bandeleros) and pirates on the seaside,
which lie skulking in the hollows of the rocks, and
often surprise passengers unawares and carry them
slaves to Barbary on the other side. The safest way
to pass is to take a Bordon in the habit of a pilgrim,
whereof there are an abundance that perform their
vows this way to the Lady of Monserrat, one of the
prime places of pilgrimage in Christendom. It is
a stupendous monastery, built on the top of a huge
land rock, whither it is impossible to go up or come
down by a direct way, but a path is cut out fiilL
of windings and turnings ; and on the crown of
this craggy hill there is a flat, upon which the
monastery and pilgrimage place is founded, where
there is a picture of the Virgin Mary, sunburnt
and tanned, it seems, when she went to Egypt;
and to this picture a marvellous confluence of
people from all parts of Europe resort.

6o FAMILIAR LETTERS

As I passed between some of the Pyrenese hills
I observed the poor Labradors. Some of the
country people live no better than brute animals
in point of food, for their ordinary commons is
grass and water, only they have always within
their houses a bottle of vinegar and another of
oil, and when dinner or supper time comes, they
go abroad and gather their herbs and so cast
vinegar and oil upon them, and will pass thus
two or three days without bread or wine, yet are
they strong, lusty men, and will stand stiffly under
a musket.

There is a tradition that there were divers mines
of gold in ages past amongst those mountains. And
the shepherds that kept goats then, having made a
small fire of rosemary stubs, with other combustible
stuff to warm themselves, this fire grazed along,
and grew so outrageous, that it consumed the very
entrails of the earth and melted those mines, which
growing fluid by liquefaction ran down into the
small rivulets that were in the valleys, and so
carried all into the sea, that monstrous gulf which
swalloweth all, but seldom disgorges anything;
and in these brooks to this day some small grains
of gold are found.

The viceroy of this country hath taken much
pains to clear these hills of robbers, and there hath
been a notable havoc made of them this year ; for
in divers woods as I passed I might spy some trees
laden with dead carcases, a better fruit far than
Diogenes' tree bore, whereon a woman had hanged

OF JAMES HOWELL 6i

herself, which the cynic cried out to be the best
bearing tree that ever he saw.

In this place there lives neither English mer-
chant or factor, which I wonder at, considering
that it is a maritime town, and one of the greatest
in Spain ; her chiefest arsenal for galleys, and the
scale by which she conveys her monies to Italy;
but I believe the reason is that there is no com-
modious port here for ships of any burthen but a
large bay. I will enlarge myself no further at this
time, but leave you to the guard and guidance of
God, whose sweet hand of protection hath brought
me through so many uncouth places and difficul-
ties to this city.— So hoping to meet your letters
in Alicante, where I shall anchor a good while, I
rest yours to dispose of,

J. H.
Barcelona, 24 November 1620.

XXIV

To Dr Fr. Manse II; from Valencia

THOUGH it be the same glorious sun that
shines upon you in England, which illu-
minates also this part of the hemisphere, though
it be the sun that ripeneth your pippins and
our pomegranates ; your hops and our vineyards
here, yet he dispense th his heat in different de-
grees of strength ; those rays that do but warm
you in England, do half roast us here ; those

62 FAMILIAR LETTERS

beams that irradiate only and gild your honey-
suckled fields, do scorch and parch this chinky
gaping soil, and so. put too many wrinkles upon
the face of our common Mother the Earth. O
blessed clime, O happy England, where there is
such a rare temperature of heat and cold, and all
the rest of elementary qualities, that one may pass
(and suffer little) all the year long without either
shade in summer or fire in winter.

I am now in Valencia, one of the noblest cities
of all Spain, situate in a large vegue or valley,
above three score miles compass. Here are the
strongest silks, the sweetest wines, the excellentest
almonds, the best oils, and beautifulest females of
all Spain, for the prime courtesans in Madrid and
elsewhere are had hence. The very brute animals
make themselves beds of rosemary and other fra-
grant flowers hereabouts ; and when one is at sea,
if the wind blow from the shore, he may smell this
soil before he come in sight of it many leagues
off, by the strong odoriferous scent it casts. As it
is the most pleasant, so it is also the temperatest
clime of all Spain, and they commonly call it the
second Italy, which made the Moors, whereof
many thousands were disterred and banished hence
to Barbary, to think that paradise was in that
part of the heavens which hung over this City.
Some twelve miles off is old Sagunto, called
now Morviedre, through which I passed, and saw
many monuments of Roman antiquities there:
amongst others there is the temple dedicated to

OF JAMES HOWELL 63

Venus, where the snake came about her neck, a
little before Hannibal came thither. No more
now, but that I heartily wish you were here with
me, and I believe you would not desire to be a
good while in England. — So I am, your

J. H.

Valencia, i of March i6ao.

XXV

7(9 Christopher yones^ Esq., at Grafs Inn

I AM now (thanks be to God) come to Alicante,
the chief rendevouz I aimed at in Spain ; for I
am to send hence a commodity called barillia to Sir
Robert Mansell for making of crystal glass, and
I have treated with Signor Andriotti, a Genoa
merchant, for a good round parcel of it, to the value
of ;^2000, by letters of credit from Master Richant,
and upon his credit, I might have taken many
thousand pounds more, he is so well known in the
kingdom of Valencia. This barillia is a strange
kind of vegetable, and it grows nowhere upon the
surface of the earth in that perfection as here.
The Venetians have it hence, and it is a commod-
ity whereby this maritime town doth partly sub-
sist, for it is an ingredient that goes to the making
of the best Castile soap. It grows thus : It is a
round thick earthy shrub that bears berries like
barberries, but 'twixt blue and green. It lies close
to the ground, and when it is ripe they dig it up

64 FAMILIAR LETTERS

by the roots, and put it together in cocks, where
they leave it to dry many days like hay, then they
make a pit of a fathom deep in the earth, and with
an instrument like one of our prongs they take
the tufts and put fire to them, and when the flame
comes to the berries they melt, and dissolve into
an azure liquor, and fall down into the pit till it
be full ; then they dam it up, and some days after
they open it, and find this barillia juice turned to
a blue stone, so hard that it is scarce malleable.
It is sold at one hundred crowns a ton, but I had
it for less. There is also a spurious flower called
gazull that grows here, but the glass that is made
of that is not so resplendent and clear. I have been
here now these three months, and most of my
food has been grapes and bread, with other roots,
which have made me so fat that I think if you saw
me you would hardly know me, such nourriture
this deep Sanguin Alicante grape gives. I have
not received a syllable from you since I was in
Antwerp, which transforms me to wonder, and en-
genders odd thoughts of jealousy in me, that as my
body grows fatter your love grows lanker towards
me. I pray take oflF these scruples, and let me hear
from you, else it will make a schism in friendship,
which I hold to be a very holy league, and no less
than a piacle to infringe it ; in which opinion I
rest, your constant friend,

J. H.

Alicante, March 27, 1621.

OF JAMES HOWELL 65

XXVI
To Sir John Nortb^ Knigla

HAVING endured the brunt of a whole sum-
mer in Spain, and tried the temper of all the
other three seasons of the year up and down the
kingdoms of Catalonia, Valencia, and Mercia, with
some parts of Aragon, I am now to direct my
course for Italy. I hoped to have embarked at
Carthagena, the best port upon the Mediterranean,
for what ships and galleys get in thither are shut
up, as it were, in a box from the violence and in-
jury of all weathers, which made Andrea Doria,
being asked by Philip the Second which were his
best harbours, he answered, "June, July, and
Carthagena," meaning that any port is good in
those two months, but Carthagena was good any
time of the year. There was a most ruthful acci-
dent had happened there a little before I came, for
whereas five ships had gone thence laden with
soldiers for Naples, amongst whom there was the
flower of the gentry of the kingdom of Mercia,
those ships had hardly sailed three leagues but
they met with sixteen sails of Algiers, men-of-
war, who had lain skulking in the creeks there-
about, and they had the winds and all things else
so favourable, that of those five ships they took
one, sunk another, and burnt a third, and two fled
back to safe harbour. The report hereof being

66 FAMILIAR LETTERS

bruited up and down the country, the gentle-
women came from the country to have tidings,
some of their children, others of their brothers
and kindred, and went tearing their hair and
howling up and down the streets in a most pite-
ous manner. The admiral of those five ships,
as I heard afterwards, was sent for to Madrid,
and hanged at the court gate because he did not
fight. Had I come time enough to have taken
the opportunity, I might have been made either
food for haddocks or turned to cinders, or have
been by this time a slave in the bannier at Algiers,
or tugging at an oar ; but I hope God hath re-
served me for a better destiny. So I came back to
Alicante, where I lighted upon a lusty Dutchman,
who hath carried me safe hither, but we were near
upon forty days in voyage. We passed by Majorca
and Minorca, the Baleares Insulae, by some ports of
Barbary, by Sardinia, Corsica, and all the islands
of the Mediterranean Sea. We were at the mouth
of /Tiber, and thence fetched our course for Sicily.
We passed by those sulphurous, fiery islands,
Mongibel and Strombolo, and about the dawn of
the day we shot through Scylla and Carybdis, and
so into the phare of Messina : thence we touched
upon some of the Greek islands, and so came to
our first intended course, into the Venetian Gulf,
and are now here at Malamocca, where we remain
yet aboard, and must be content to be so, to make
up the month before we have " pratic," that is,
before any be permitted to go ashore and negotiate,

OF JAMES HOWELL 67

in regard we touched at some infected places ; for
there are no people upon earth so fearful of
the plague as the Italians, especially the Venetians,
though their neighbours the Greeks hard by, and
the Turks, have little or no apprehension at all of
the danger of it, for they will visit and commerce
with the sick without any scruple, and will fix
their longest finger in the midst of their forehead
and say their destiny and manner of death is
pointed there. When we have gained yonder
maiden city which lieth before us you shall hear
farther from me ; so leaving you to His holy pro-
tection who hath thus graciously vouchsafed to
preserve this ship and me in so long and danger-
ous a voyage, I rest, yours,

J. H.

Malamocca, Jpril the 30, 1621.

XXVII

To my Brother^ Dr Howell; from a Shipboard

before Venice

Brother,

IF this letter fail either in point of orthography
or style, you must impute the first to the
tumbling posture my body was in at the writing
hereof, being a shipboard, the second the muddi-
ness of my brain, which like lees in a narrow ves-
sel, hath been shaken at sea in divers tempests

68 FAMILIAR LETTERS

near upon forty days, I mean natural days, which
include the nights also, and are composed of four
and twenty hours, by which number the Italian
computes his time, and tells his clock, for at the
writing hereof, I heard one from Malamocca strike
one and twenty hours. When I shall have saluted
yonder virgin city that stands before me, and hath
tantalised me now this sennight, I hope to cheer
my spirits, and settle my pericranium again.

In this voyage we passed through, at least
touched, all those seas, which Horace and other
poets sing of so often, as the Ionian, the ^gean,
the Icarian, the Tyrrhene, with others, and now
we are in the Adrian Sea, in the mouth whereof
Venice stands like a gold ring in a bear's muzzle.
We passed also by -ffitna, by the infames Scopulos,
Acrocerauniay and through Scylla and Charybdis,
about which the ancient poets, both Greek and
Latin, keep such a coil, but they are nothing so
horrid or dangerous, as they make them to be :
they are two white keen-pointed rocks, that lie
under water diametrically opposed, and like two
dragons defying one another, and there are pilots,
that in small shallops, are ready to steer all ships
that pass. This amongst divers other, may serve
for an instance that the old poets used to heighten
and hoist up things by their airy fancies above the
reality of truth, -ffitna was very furious when we
passed by as she uscth to be sometimes more than
other, specially when the wind is southward, for
then she is more subject to belching out flakes of

OF JAMES HOWELL 69

fire (as stutterers use to stammer more when the
wind IS in that hole) ; some of the sparkles fell
aboard of us, but they would make us believe in
Syracuse, now Messina, that iEtna in times passed
hath eructated such huge gobbets of fire, that the
sparks of them have burnt houses in Malta, above
fifty miles oflF, transported thither by a direct
strong wind. We passed hard by Corinth, now
Ragusa, but I was not so happy as to touch there,
-for you know

Non cuivis homini contingit adire Corinthum.

I conversed with many Greeks but found none
that could understand, much less practically speak
any of the old dialects of the pristine Greek, it is so
adulterated by the vulgar, as a bed of flowers by
weeds, nor is there any people, either in the
islands or on the Continent, that speaks it con-
versably, yet there are in the Morea seven parishes
called Zacones, where the original Greek is not
much degenerated, but they confound divers let- .
ters of the alphabet with one sound, for in point
of pronunciation there is no diflference 'twixt Ep-
silon. Iota, and Eta.

The last I received from you was in Latin,
whereof I sent you an answer from Spain in the
same language, though in a coarser dialect. I shall
be a guest to Venice a good while, therefore I de-
sire a frequency of correspondence between us by
letters, for there will be conveniency every week
of receiving and sending; when you write to

70 FAMILIAR LETTERS

Wales, I pray send adirice, that I am come safe to
Italy, though not landed there yet. So my dear
brother, I pray God bless us both, and all our
friends, and reserve me to see you again with com-
fort, and you me, who am your loving brother,

J. H.
May the 5, 1621.

XXVIII

Tb the Honourable Sir Robert Mansell^ Vice-
Admiral of England; from Venice

AS soon as I came to Venice, I applied myself
to dispatch your business according to in-
structions, and Mr Seymor was ready to contrib-
ute his best furtherance. These two Italians who
are the bearers hereof, by report here, are the best
gentlemen-workmen that ever blew crystal, one is
allied to Antonio Miotti, the other is cousin to
Mazalao ; for other things they shall be sent in
the ship LioHy which rides here at Malamocca, as
I shall send you account by conveyance of Mr
Symns. Herewith I have sent a letter to you from
Sir Henry Wotton, the Lord Ambassador here, of
whom I have received some favours. He wished
me to write, that you have now a double interest
in him ; for whereas before he was only your ser-
vant, he is now your kinsman by your late mar-
riage.

I was lately to see the arsenal of Venice, one of

OF JAMES HOWELL 71

the worthiest things of Christendom ; they say
there are as many galleys, and galeasses of all sorts,
belonging to Saint Mark, either in course, at an-
chor, in dock, or upon the carine, as there be days
in the year ; here they can build a complete galley
in half a day, and put her afloat in perfect equip-
age, having all the ingredients fitted before-hand,
as they did in three hours, when Henry the Third
passed this way to France from Poland, who
wished, that besides Paris and his parliament
towns, he had this arsenal in exchange for three
of his chiefest cities. There are three hundred
people perpetually here at work, and if one comes
young and grows old in Saint Mark's service, he
hath a pension from the State during life. Being
brought to see one of the Clarissimos that governs
this arsenal, this huge sea store-house, amongst
other matters reflecting upon England, he was
saying : " That if Cavalier Don Roberto Mansell
were now here, he thought verily the republic
would make a profiler to him to be admiral of that
fleet of galleys and galleons, which are now going
against the Duke of Ossuna and the forces of
Naples," you are so well known here.

I was, since I came hither, in Murano, a little
island about the distance of Lambeth from Lon-
don, where crystal glass is made, and it is a rare
sight to see a whole street, where on the one side
there are twenty furnaces together at work. They
say here that although one should transplant a
glass-furnace from Murano to Venice herself, or

72 FAMILIAR LETTERS

to any of the little assembly of islands about her,
or to any other part of the earth besides, and use
the same materials, the same workmen, the same
fuel, the self-same ingredients every way, yet they
cannot make crystal glass in that perfection, for
beauty and lustre, as in Murano. Some impute it
to the quality of the circumambient air that hangs
over the place, which is purified and attenuated
by the concurrence of so many fires that are in
those furnaces night and day perpetually, for they
are like the vestal fire which never goes out. And
it is well known that some airs make more quali-
fying impressions than others, as a Greek told me
in Sicily of the air of Egypt, where there be huge
common furnaces to hatch eggs by the thousands
in camel's dung; for, during the time of hatching
if the air happen to come to be overcast and grow
cloudy, it spoils all; if the sky continue still,
serene, and clear, not one egg in a hundred will
miscarry.

I met with Camillo, your Consaorman^ here
lately, and could he be sure of entertainment, he
would return to serve you again, and, I believe,
for less salary.

I shall attend your commands herein by the
next, and touching other particulars, whereof I
have written to Captain Bacon. So I rest, your
most humble and ready servant,

J. H.

Venice, May the ^Oy 1621.

OF JAMES HOWELL 73

XXIX

To my Brother; from Venice

Brother,

I FOUND a letter of yours that had lain dor-
mant here a good while in Mr Symns' hands,
to welcome me to Venice, and I thank you for the
variety of news wherewith she went freighted; for
she was to me as a ship richly laden from London
used to be to our merchants here, and I esteem her
cargozan at no less a value, for she enriched me
with the knowledge of my father's health and
your own, with the rest of my brothers and sisters
in the country, with divers other passages of con-
tentment; besides, she went also ballasted with
your good instructions, which, as merchants used
to do of their commodities, I will turn to the best
advantage, and Italy is no ill market to improve
anything. The only proceed (that I may use the
mercantile term) you can expect is thanks, and
this way I shall not be wanting to make you rich
returns.

Since I came to this town I dispatched sundry
businesses of good value for Sir Robert Mansel,
which I hope will give content. The art of glass-
making here is very highly valued ; for, whosoever
be of that profession are gentlemen ipsofactOy and
it is not without reason ; it being a rare kind of
knowledge and chemistry to transmute dust and

74 FAMILIAR LETTERS

sand (for they are the only msun ingredients) to
such a diaphanous pelludd dainty body as you see
a crystal glass is, which hath this property above
gold or silver or any other mineral, to admit no
poison ; as also that it never wastes or loses a whit
of its first weight, though you use it never so
long. When I saw so many sorts of curious
glasses made here I thought upon the compliment
which a gentleman put upon a lady in England,
who having five or six comely daughters, said
he never saw in his life such a dainty cupboard
of crystal glasses ; the compliment proceeds, it
seems, from a saying they have here, '^That
the first handsome woman that ever was made,
was made of Venice glass," which implies beauty,
but brittleness withal (and Venice is not un-
furnished with some of that mould, for no place
abounds more with lasses and glasses). But
when I pried into the materials, and observed
the furnaces and the calcinations, the transub-
stantiations, the liquefactions that are incident to
this art, my thoughts were raised to a higher
speculation : that if this small furnace-fire hath
virtue to convert such a small lump of dark dust
and sand into such a precious clear body as crys-
tal, surely that grand universal fire which shall hap-
pen at the day of judgment, may by its violent
ardour vitrify and turn to one lump of crystal the
whole body of the earth, nor am I the first that fell
upon this conceit.

I will enlarge myself no further to you at this

OF JAMES HOWELL 75

time, but conclude with this tetrastic which my
brain ran upon in my bed this morning.

Vitrea sunt nostrae commissa negoda curae
Hoc oculis speculum mittimus ergo tuis :

Quod speculum ? est instar speculi mea litera, per quod
Vivida finterni cordis imago nitet.

Adieu, my dear brother, live happily and love
your brother, J. H.

Venice, the i of June 1621.

XXX

To Mr Richard Altham at Grafs Inn ; from

Venice

Gentle Sir,

O dulcior illo

Mille quod in ceris Attica ponit apis.

O thou who dost in sweetness ^ excel.
That juice the Atdc bee stores in her cell.

My dear Dick,

I HAVE now a good while since taken foot-
ing in Venice, this admired maiden city, so
called because she was never deflowered by any
enemy since she had a being, not since her Rialto
was first erected, which is now above twelve ages
ago.

I protest unto you at my first landing I was for
some days ravished with the high beauty of this
maid, with her lovely countenance. I admired her
magnificent buildings, her marvellous situation, her

76 FAMILIAR LETTERS

dainty smooth neat streets, whereon you may walk
most days in the year in a silk stocking and satin
slippers, without soiling them, nor can the streets
of Paris be so foul, as these are fair. This beaute-
ous maid hath been often attempted to be vitiated ;
some have courted her, some bribed her, some
would have forced her, yet she hath still preserved
her chastity entire ; and though she hath lived so
many ages, and passed so many shrewd brunts,
yet she continueth fresh to this very day, without
the least wrinkle of old age or any symptoms of
decay, whereunto political bodies, as well as natural,
use to be liable. Besides she hath wrestled with
the greatest potentates upon earth. The Emperor,
the King of France, and most of the other princes
of Christendom, in that famous league of Cam bray,
would have sunk her ; but she bore up still within
her lakes, and broke that league to pieces by her
wit. The Grand Turk hath been often at her,
and though he could not have his will of her, yet
he took away the richest jewel she wore in her
coronet and put it in his turban — I mean the king-
dom of Cyprus, the only royal gem she had ;
he hath sat upon her skirts often since, and though
she closed with him sometimes, yet she came off
still with her maidenhead, though some that envy
her happiness, would brand her to be of late times
a kind of concubine to him, and that she gives him
ready money once a year to lie with her, which
she minceth by name of present, though it be
indeed rather a tribute.

OF JAMES HOWELL 77

I would I had you here with a wish, and you
would not desire in haste to be at Gray's Inn,
though I hold your walks to be the pleasantest
place about London ; and that you have there the
choicest society. I pray present my kind commen-
dations to all there, and service at Bishopsgate
Street, and let me hear from you by the next post.
— So I am, entirely yours, J. H.

Venice, 5 June 1621.

XXXI

To Dr Frank Manse/I; from Venice

GIVE me leave to salute you first in these
sapphics. 9

Insulam tendens iter ad Britannam
Charta, de paucis volo, siste gressum.
Verba Mansello, bene noscis ilium,

Talia perfer,

Finibus longe patriis Hoellus
DimoranSy quantis Venctum superba
Civitas leucis Dorobemiensi

Distat ab urbe ;

Plurimam mentis tibi vult salutem,
Plurium cordis tibi vult vigorem,
Plurimum sortis tibi vult favorcm

Regis et Aulae.

These wishes come to you from Venice, a place

78 FAMILIAR LETTERS

where there is nothing wanting that heart can wish;
renowned Venice, the admiredst dty in the world,
a city that all Europe is bound unto, for she is her
greatest rampart against that huge eastern tyrant
the Turk by sea, else I believe he had overrun all
Christendom by this time. Against him this city
hath performed notable exploits, and not only
against him, but divers other. She hath restored
emperors to their thrones, and popes to their chairs,
and with her galleys often preserved S^nt Peter's
barque from sinking : for which, by way of reward,
one of his successors espoused her to the sea, which
marriage is solemnly renewed every year in solemn
procession by the Doge and all the Clarissimos,
and a gold ring cast into the sea out of the great
galleasse, called the BucentorOy wherein the first
ceremony was performed by the Pope himself,
above three hundred years since, and they say it is
the self-same vessel still, though often put upon
the careen and trimmed. This made me think on
that famous ship at Athens ; nay, I fell upon an
abstracted notion in philosophy, and a speculation
touching the body of man, which being in perpet-
ual flux, and a kind of succession of decays, and
consequently requiring ever and anon a restoration
of what it loseth of the virtue of the former ailment,
and what was converted after the third concoction
into blood and fleshly substance, which, as in all
other sublunary bodies that have internal princi-
ples of heat, uses to transpire, breathe out, and waste
away through invisible pores by exercise, motion.

OF JAMES HOWELL 79

and sleep to make room still for a supply of new
nourriture. I fell, I say, to consider whether our
bodies may be said to be of like condition with this
Bucentoroy which, though it be reputed still the
same vessel, yet I believe there 's not a foot of that
timber remaining which it had upon the first dock,
having been, as they tell me, so often planked and
ribbed, caulked and pieced. In like manner our
bodies may be said to be daily repaired by new
sustenance, which begets new blood, and conse-
quently new spirits, new humours, and I may say
new flesh, the old by continual deperdition and
insensible transpirations evaporating still out of us,
and giving way to fresh ; so that I make a ques-
tion, whether by reason of these perpetual prepara-
tions and accretions the body of man may be said
to be the same numerical body in his old age that
he had in his manhood, or the same in his manhood
that he had in his youth, the same in his youth that
he carried about him in his childhood, or the same
in his childhood which he wore first in the womb.
I make a doubt whether I had the same identical
individually numerical body when I carried a calf-
leather satchel to school in Hereford, as when I
wore a lambskin hood in Oxford, or whether I
have the same mass of blood in my veins, and the
same flesh now in Venice which I carried about me
three years since up and down London streets,
having in lieu of beer and ale drunk wine all this
while, and fed upon different viands; now the
stomach is like a crucible, for it hath a chemical

8o FAMILIAR LETTERS

kind of virtae to transmute one body into an-
other, to transubstantiate fish and fruits into flesh
within, and about us ; but though it be questionable
whether I wear the same flesh which is fluxible, I
am sure my hair is not the same, for you may
remember I went flaxen-haired out of England, but
you shall find me returned with a very dark brown,
which I impute not only to the heat and air of
those hot countries I have eat my bread in, but to
the quality and diflFerence of food; but you will
say that hair is but an excrementitious thing, and
makes not to this purpose ; moreover, methinks I
hear you say that this may be true, only in the
blood and spirits, or such fluid parts, not in the
solid and heterogeneal parts ; but I will press no
further at this time this philosophical notion which
the fight of Bucentoro infused into me, for it hath
already made me exceed the bounds of a letter,
and I fear me to trespass too much upon your
patience. I leave the further disquisition of this
point to your own contemplations, who are a far
riper philosopher than I, and have waded deeper
into, and drunk more of Aristotle's Well; but to
conclude, though it be doubtful whether I carry
about me the same body or no, in all points that I
had in England, I am well assured I bear still the
same mind, and therein I verify the old verse —

Coelnm non animam mutant qui trans mare cummt.

The air but not the mind they change.
Who in outlandish countries range.

For what alterations soever happen in this micro-

OF JAMES HOWELL 8i

cosm, in this little world, this small bulk and body
of mine, you may be confident that nothing shall
alter my affections, specially towards you, but that
I will persevere still the same, the very same,

J. H.
Venice, 25 June 1621.

XXXII

T(9 Richard Altham^ Esquire

I WAS plunged in a deep fit of melancholy, Sa-
turn had cast his black influence over all my
intellectuals. Methought I felt my heart as a
lump of dough, and heavy as lead within my
breast; when a letter of yours of the 3rd of this
month was brought me, which presently begot
new spirits within me, and made such strong im-
pressions upon my intellectuals, that it turned and
transformed me into another man. I have read of
a Duke of Milan and others, who were poisoned
by reading of a letter, but yours produced con-
trary effects in me; it became an antidote, or
rather a most sovereign cordial, to me, more op-
erative than bezoar, of more virtue than potable
gold or the elixir of amber, for it wrought a sud-
den cure upon me. That fluent and rare mixture
of love and wit, which I found up and down
therein, were the ingredients of this cordial ; they
Virere as so many choice flowers, strewed here and
there, which did cast such an odoriferous scent,

82 FAMILIAR LETTERS

that they revived all my senses, and dispelled
those dull fumes which had formerly overclouded
my brain. Such was the operation of your most
ingenious and affectionate letter, and so sweet an
entertainment it gave me. If your letter had that
virtue, what would your person have done ? And
did you know all, you would wish your person
here a while — did you know the rare beauty of
this Virgin City, you would quickly make love to
her, and change your Royal Exchange for the
Rialto, and your Gray's Inn Walks for Saint
Mark's Place for a time. Farewell, dear child of
Virtue, and minion of the Muses, and love still
your J. H.

Venice, i July 1621.

XXXIII

^0 my much honoured friend^ Sir John Norths

Knight; from Venice

Noble Sir,

THE first office of gratitude is to receive a
good turn civilly, then to retain it in mem-
ory and acknowledge it ; thirdly, to endeavour a
requital for this last office. It is in vain for me to
attempt it, specially towards you, who have laden
me with such a variety of courtesies and weighty
favours, that my poor stock comes far short of
any retaliation ; but for the other two, reception,
and retention, as I am not conscious to have

OF JAMES HOWELL 83

been wanting in the first act, so I shall never fail
in the second, because both these are within the
compass of my power ; for if you could pry into
my memory, you should discover there a huge
magazine of your favours (you have been pleased
to do me present and absent) safely stored up
and coacervated, to preserve them from moulder-
ing away in oblivion ; for courtesies should be no
perishable commodity. Should I attempt any
other requital, I should extenuate your favours
and derogate from the worth of them ; yet if to
this of the memory I can contribute any other act
of body or mind, to enlarge my acknowledgments
towards you, you may be well assured that I shall
be ever ready to court any occasion whereby the
world may know how much I am your thankful
servitor, J. H.

Venice, 13 July 1621.

XXXIV
T^o Dan. Caldwell^ Esq. ; from Venice

My dear D.,

COULD letters fly with the same wings as love
useth to do, and cut the air with the like
swiftness of motion, this letter of mine should
work a miracle, and be with you in an instant ; nor
should she fear interception or any other casualty
in the way, or cost you one penny the post, for
she should pass invisibly ; but 't is not fitting that

84

FAMILIAR LETTERS

paper, which is made but of old rags, wherewith
letters are swaddled, should have the same privi-
lege as love, which is a spiritual thing, having
something of divinity in it, and partakes in celerity
with the imagination, than which there is not any-
thing more swift, you know— no, not the motion
of the upper sphere, the pritnum mobile^ which
snatcheth all the other nine after, and indeed the
whole macrocosm all the world besides, except
our earth {the centre), which upper sphere the as-
tronomers would have to move so many degrees,
so many thousand miles in a moment. Since, then,
letters are denied such a velocity, 1 allow this of
mine twenty days, which is the ordinary time al-
lowed betwixt Venice and London, to come unto
you, and thank you a thousand times over for your
last of the tenth of June, and the rich venison feast
you made, as I understand, not long since, to the
remembrance of me, at the Ship Tavern. Believe
it, sir, you shall find that this love of yours is not
ill employed, for I esteem it at the highest degree.
I value it more than the Treasury of Saint Mark,
which I lately saw, where among other things
there is a huge iron chest, as tall as myself, that
hath no lock, but a crevice through which they
least in the gold that is bequeathed to Saint Mark
in legacies, whereon there is engraven this proud
motto —

Quando questo acrinio S'apria

Tucto *l mundo tremera.

When this chest shall open, the whole world

OF JAMES HOWELL 85

shall tremble. The Duke of Ossuna^ late Viceroy
of Naples, did what he could to force them to
open it, for he brought Saint Mark to waste much
of this treasure in the late wars, which he made
purposely to that end, which made them have
recourse to us and the Hollander for ships, not
long since.

Amongst the rest of Italy this is called the
Maiden City (notwithstanding her great number
of courtesans^, and there is a prophecy, "That
she shall continue a maid until her husband forsake
her," meaning the sea, to whom the Pope married
her long since, and the sea is observed not to love
her so deeply as he did, for he begins to shrink
and grow shallower in some places about her ; nor
doth the Pope also, who was the father that gave
her to the sea, affect her so much as he formerly
did, especially since the extermination of the
Jesuits: so that both husband and father begin to
abandon her.

I am to be a guest to this hospitable maid a
good while yet, and if you want any commodity
that she can afford (and what cannot she afford for
human pleasure or delight ?) do but write, and it
shall be sent you.

Farewell, gentle soul, and correspond still in

pure love with your

J. H.
Venice, 29 of July i6ai.

86 FAMILIAR LETTERS

XXXV

To Sir James Crofts, Knight; from Venice

I RECEIVED one of yours the last week, that
came in my Lord Ambassador Wotton's
packet, and being now upon point of parting with
Venice, I could not do it without acquainting you
(as far as the extent of a letter will permit) with
[ her power, her policy, her wealth, and pedigree.
She was built of the ruins of Aquileia and Padua,
for when those swarms of tough northern people
overran Italy under the conduct of that scourge of
heaven Attila, with others, and that this soft vo-
luptuous nation, after so long a desuetude from
arms, could not repel their fury, many of the
ancient nobility and gentry- fled into these lakes
and little islands, amongst the fishermen for their
security, and finding the air good and commodious
for habitation, they began to build upon those
small islands, whereof there are in all threescore ;
and in tract of time, they conjoined and leagued
them together by bridges, whereof there are now
above eight hundred, and this makes up the city of
Venice, who is now above twelve ages old, and was
contemporary with the monarchy of France ; but
the signiory glorieth in one thing above the mon-
archy, that she was born a Christian, but the
monarchy not. Though this city be thus hemmed
in with the sea, yet she spreads her wings far and wide

OF JAMES HOWELL 87

upon the shore ; she hath in Lombardy six con-
siderable towns, Padua, Verona, Vicenza, Brescia,
Crema and Bergamo ; she hath in the Marquisat,
Bassan and Castelfranco ; she hath all Friuli and
Istria; she commands the shores of Dalmatia and
Slavonia ; she keeps under the power of Saint
Mark, the islands of Corfu (anciently Corcyria),
Cephalonia, Zant, Cerigo, Lucerigo, and Candy
(Jove's Cradle) ; she had a long time the kingdom
of Cyprus, but it was quite rent from her by the
Turk, which made that high spirited Bassa, being
taken prisoner at the battle of Lepanto, where the
grand signior lost above 200 galleys, to say,
" That that defeat to his great master was but like
the shaving of his beard or the paring of his nails;
but the taking of Cyprus was like the cutting off
of a limb, which will never grow again." This
mighty potentate being so near a neighbour to her
she is forced to comply with him and give him an
annual present in gold: she hath about thirty gal-
leys most part of the year in course to scour and
secure the gulf; she entertains by land in Lom-
bardy and other parts 25,000 foot, besides some
of the cantons of Suisses whom she gives pay
unto; she hath also in constant pay 600 men
of arms, and every of these must keep two
horses a-piece, for which they are allowed 120
ducats a year, and they are for the most part gen-
tlemen of Lombardy. When they have any great
expedition to make, they have always a stranger
for their general, but he is supervised by two

88 FAMILIAR LETTERS

proveditors, without whom he cannot attempt any
thing.

Her great Council consists of above 2000 gen-
tlemen, and some of them meet every Sunday and
holiday to choose officers and magistrates, and
every gentleman being past twenty -five years of
age is capable to sit in this Council. The Doge or
Duke (their sovereign magistrate) is chosen by
lots, which would be too tedious here to demon-
strate, and commonly he is an aged man who is
created, like that course they hold in the popedom.
When he is dead there be inquisitors that examine
his actions, and his misdemeanours are punishable
in his heirs. There is a superintendent council of
ten, and six of them may dispatch business with-
out the doge, but the doge never without some of
them, not as much as open a letter from any for-
eign state, though addressed to himself, which
makes him to be called by other princes, "Testa di
legnoy 2i head of wood.

The wealth of this republic hath been at a stand,
or rather declining, since the Portugal found a
road to the East Indies by the Cape of Good
Hope ; for this city was used to fetch all those
spices and other Indian commodities from the
grand Cairo down the Nile, being formerly
carried to Cairo from the Red Sea upon camels'
and dromedaries* backs, threescore days' journey ;
and so Venice used to dispense those commodities
through all Christendom, which not only the Port-
ugal, but the English and Hollander, now trans-

OF JAMES HOWELL 89

port, and are masters of the trade. Yet there is no
outward appearance at all of poverty, or any decay
in this city, but she is still gay, flourishing, and
fresh, and flowing with all kind of bravery and
delight, which may be had at cheap rates. Much
more might be written of this ancient wise Repub-
lic, which cannot be comprehended within the nar-
row enclosure of a letter. So with my due and daily
prayers for a continuance of your health, and in-
crease of honour, I rest, your most humble and
ready servitor, J. H.

Venice, i of August 1621.

XXXVI

7(9 Robert Browriy Esquire y at the Middle
Temple ; from Venice

Robin,

I HAVE now enough of the maiden city, and
this week I am to go further into Italy ; for
though I have been a good while in Venice, yet I
cannot say I have been hitherto upon the conti-
nent of Italy : for this city is nought else but a
knot of islands in the Adriatic Sea, joined -in one
body by bridges, and a good way distant from the
firm land. I have lighted upon very choice com-
pany, your cousin Brown and Master Wed, and
we all take the road of Lombardy, but we made
an order amongst ourselves that our discourse be
always in the language of the country, under pen-

90 FAMILIAR LETTERS

alty of a forfeiture, which is to be indispensably
paid. Randal Symns made us a curious feast lately,
where in a cup of the richest Greek we . had your
health, and I could not tell whether the wine or
the remembrance of you was sweeter ; for it was
naturally a kind of aromatic wine, which left a fra-
grant perfuming kind of farewell behind it. I have
sent you a runlet of it in the ship Liotij and if it
come safe, and unpricked, I pray bestow some bot-
tles upon the lady (you know) with my humble
service. When you write next to Master Simns,
I pray acknowledge the good hospitality and ex-
traordinary civilities I received from him. Before
I conclude I will acquaint you with a common say-
ing that is used of this dainty city of Venice :

Venetia, Venetia, chi non te vede non te pregia.
Ma chi t' ha troppo veduto te dispreggia.

Englished and rhymed thus (though I know you
need no translation, you understand so much of
Italian):

Venice, Venice, none thee unseen can prize.
Who hath seen too much will thee despise.

I will conclude with that famous hexastic which
Sannazaro made of this rare city, which pleaseth
me much better :

Viderat Hadriacis Venetam Neptunus in undis
Stare urbem, et toti ponere jura Mari ;

Nunc mihi Tarpeias quantum vis, Jupiter, Arces
Objice, et ilia tui moenia Martis ait.

Sic Pelago Tibrim praefers, urbem aspice utramquc,
Illam homines dices, hanc posuisse Deos.

OF JAMES HOWELL 91

When Neptune saw in Adrian surges stand
Venice, and gave the sea laws of command :
Now Jove, said he, object thy Capitol,
And Mars' proud walls : this were for to extol
Tyber beyond the main ; both towns behold ;
Rome, men thou* It say, Venice the Gods did mould.

Sannazaro had given him by Saint Mark a hun-
dred zecchins for every one of these verses, which
amounts to about 300 pounds. It would be long
before the city of London would do the like.
Witness that cold reward, or rather those cold
drops of water which were cast upon my country-
man. Sir Hugh Middletbn, for bringing Ware
River through her streets, the most serviceable
and wholesomest benefit that ever she received.

The parcel of Italian books that you write for
you shall receive from Master Leat, if it please
God to send the ship to safe port ; and I take it
as a favour that you employ me in anything that
may conduce to your contentment. — Because, I
am your serious servitor, J. H.

Venice, 12 August 1621.

XXXVII
To Capt. Thomas Porter ; from Venice

My dear Captain,

AS I was going a shipboard in Alicante, a let-
ter of yours in Spanish came to hand. I dis-
covered two things in it, first, what a master you

92 FAMILIAR LETTERS

are of that langus^e, then how mindful you are
of your friend. For the first I dare not correspond
with you yet ; for the second, I shall never come
short of you, for I am as mindful of you, as possi-
bly you can be of me, and some hours my pulse
doth not beat more often than my memory runs
on you, which is often enough in consdence ; for
the physicians hold that in every well-disposed
body there be above 4000 pulsations every hour,
and some pulses have been known to beat above
30,000 times an hour in acute fevers.

I understand you are bound with a gallant fleet
for the Mediterranean ; if you come to Alicante,
I pray commend me to Francesco Marco, my land-
lord; he is a merry droll and good company.
One night when I was there he sent his boy with
a borracha of leather under his cloak for wine,
the boy coming back about ten o'clock and pass-
ing by the guard, one asked him whether he car-
ried any weapons about him (for none must wear
any weapons there after ten at night). " No,"
quoth the boy, being pleasant, " I have but a little
dagger.'* The watch came and searched him, and
finding the borracha full of good wine, drank it
all up, saying, " Sirrah, you know no man must
carry any weapons so late; but, because we know
whose servant you are, there's the scabbard of
your dagger again," and so threw him the empty
borracho. But another passage pleased me better
of Don Beltram de Rosa, who being to marry a
rich Labrador's (a Yeoman's) daughter hard by.

OF JAMES HOWELL 93

which was much importuned by her parents to
the match, because their family should be thereby
ennobled, he being a Cavalier of Saint Jago. The
young maid having understood that Don Beltram
had been in Naples, and had that disease about
him, answered wittily, " En verdad por adobar me
la sangre, no quiero dannarmi la carne" (truly,
sir, to better my blood, I will not hurt my flesh).
I doubt I shall not be in England before you set
out to sea ; if not, I take my leave of you in this
paper, and wish you a prosperous voyage and an
honourable return ; it is the hearty prayers of
yours, J. H.

Venice, 21 August 1621.

XXXVIII

To Sir William Saint Johriy Knight; from Rome

HAVING seen Antehor's tomb in Padua, and
the amphitheatre of Flaminius in Verona,
with other brave towns in Lombiardy, I am now
come to Rome, and Rome they say is every man's
country ; she is called Comunis Patriae for every one
that is within the compass of the Latin Church finds
himself here, as it were, at home and in his mother's
house. In regard of interest in religion, which is
the cause that for one native there be five strangers
that sojourn in this city, and without any distinction
or mark of strangeness, they come to preferments
and ofl[ices both in Church and State, according to

94 FAMILIAR LETTERS

merit, which is more valued and sought after here
than anywhere.

But whereas I expected to have found Rome
elevated upon seven hills, I met her rather spread-
ing upon a flat, having humbled herself since she
was made a Christian and descended from those
hills to Campus Martius,with Trasteren, and the
suburbs of Saint Peter she hath yet in compass,
about fourteen miles, which is far short of that vast
circuit she had in Claudius* time ; for Vopiscus
writes she was then of fifty miles circumference,
and she had five hundred thousand free citizens in
a famous census that was made, which, allowing but
six to every family in women, children, and ser-
vants, came to three millions of souls ; but she is
now a wilderness in comparison of that number.
The Pope is grown to be a great temporal prince
of late years, for the state of the Church extends
above 300 miles in length and 2cx> miles in
breadth ; it contains Ferrara, Bologna, Romagna,
the Marquisat of Ancona, Umbria, Sabina, Peru-
gia, with a part of Tuscany, the Patrimony, Rome
herself, and Latium. In these there are above fifty
bishopricks, the Pope hath also the Duchy of
Spoleto, and the exarchat of Ravena, he hath the
town of Benevento in the kingdom of Naples, and
the country of Venice, called Avignon in France;
he hath title also good enough to Naples itself;
but, rather than offend his champion the King of
Spain, he is contented with a white mule and purse
of pistoles about the neck, which he receives every

r

OF JAMES HOWELL 95

year for a heriot or homage, or what you will call
it. He pretends also to be Lord Paramount of
§ficily, Urbin, Parma, and Masseran, of Norway,
Ireland, and England, since King John did pros-
trate our Crown at Pandulfo, his legate's feet.

The State of the Apostolic See here in Italy
lieth betwixt two seas, the Adriatic and the Tyr-
rhene, and it runs through the midst of Italy,
which makes the Pope powerful to do good or
harm, and more capable than any other to be an
umpire or an enemy. His authority being mixed
'twixt temporal and spiritual, disperseth itself into
so many members, that a young man may grow
old here before he can well understand the form
of government.

The consistory of Cardinals meet but once a
week, and once a week they solemnly wait all
upon the Pope. I am told there are now in Chris-
tendom but sixty-eight cardinals, whereof there
are six cardinal bishops, fifty-one cardinal priests,
and eleven cardinal deacons. The cardinal bish-
ops attend and sit near the Pope when he cele-
brates any festival, the cardinal priests assist him
at mass, and the cardinal deacons attire him. A
cardinal is made by a short brief or writ from the
Pope in these words " Creamus te Socium Regi-
bus, superiorem Ducibus, et fratrem nostrum "
(We create thee a companion to kings, superior
to dukes, and our brother). If a cardinal bishop
should be questioned for any offence, there must
be twenty-four witnesses produced against him.

96 FAMILIAR LETTERS

The Bishop of Ostia hath most privilege of
any other, for he consecrates and instals the Pope,
and goes always next to him. All these cardinals
have the repute of princes, and besides other in-
comes they have the annats of benefices to sup-
port their greatness.

For point of power the Pope is able to put
50,000 men in the field in case of necessity, be-
sides his naval strength in galleys. We read how
Paul the Third sent Charles the Fifth 112,000 foot
and 500 horse. Pius the Fifth sent a greater aid
to Charles the Ninth. And for riches, besides the
temporal dominions, he hath in all the countries
before named the datary or dispatching of Bulls,
the triennial subsidies, annats, and other ecclesias-
tic rights mount to an unknown sum ; and it is a
common saying here that as long as the Pope can
finger a pen he can want no pencje. Pius the
Fifth, notwithstanding his expenses in build-
ings, left four millions in the castle of Saint
Angelo, in less than five years, more I believe
than this Gregory the Fifteenth will, for he hath
many nephews ; and better it is to be the Pope's
nephew than to be favourite to any prince in
Christendom.

Touching the temporal government of Rome,
and Oppidan affairs, there is a pretor, and some
choice citizens which sit in the capitol. Amongst
other pieces of policy there is a synagogue of
Jews permitted here (as in other places of Italy)
under the Pope's nose, but they go with a mark

OF JAMES HOWELL 97

of distinction in their hats ; they are tolerated for
advantage of commerce, wherein the Jews are
wonderful dexterous, though most of them be
only brokers and Lombardeers, and they are held
to be here, as the cynic held women to be, malum
necessarium. There be few of the Romans that
use to pray heartily for the Pope's long life, in
regard the oftener the change is, the more advan-
tageous it is for the city, because commonly it
brings strangers, and a recruit of new people.
This air of Rome is not so wholesome as of old,
and amongst other reasons one is, because of the
burning of stubble to fatten their fields. For her
antiquities it would take up a whole volume to
write them. Those which I hold the chiefest are
Vespasian's amphitheatre, where fourscore thou-
sand people might sit ; the Stoves of Anthony ;
divers rare statues at Belvedere and Saint Peter's,
specially that of Laocoon, the Obelisk ; for the
genius of the Roman hath always been much
taken with imagery, limning, and sculptures, inso-
much that as in former times, so now, I believe,
the statues and pictures in Rome exceed the
number of living people. One antiquity among
others is very remarkable because of the change
of language, which is an ancient column erected
as a trophy for Duillius the Consul, after a famous
naval victory obtained against the Carthaginians
in the second Punic war, where these words are
engraven and remain legible to this day : " Exe-
met leco-ines Macistrates Castreis exfocient pug-

98 FAMILIAR LETTERS

nandod cepet enque navebos marid Consul," etc.
And half a dozen lines after it is called Columna
rostrataj having the beaks and prows of ships en-
graven up and down, whereby it appears that the
Latin then spoken was much differing from that
which was used in Cicero's time 150 years after.
Since the dismembering of the empire Rome hath
run through many ladssitudes and turns of for-
tune, and had it not been for the residence of the
Pope I believe she had become a heap of stones,
a mount of rubbish by this time. And howsoever
that she bears up indifferent well, yet one may
say —

Qui miscranda videt veteris vesdg^ Romae,
Die potest merito dicere Roma fidt.

They who the ruins of first Rome behold.
May say, Rome is not now, bat was of old.

Present Rome may be said to be but the monu-
ment of Rome passed when she was in that flour-
ish that Saint Austin desired to see her in. She
who tamed the world tamed herself at last, and
falling under her own weight fell to be a prey to
time, yet there is a providence seems to have a
care of her still ; for though her air be not so good,
nor her circumjacent soil so kindly as it was, yet
she hath wherewith to keep life and soul together
still by her ecclesiastic courts, which is the sole
cause of her peopling now. So that it may be said
when the Pope came to be her head she was re-
duced to her first principles ; for as a shepherd was

OF JAMES HOWELL 99

founder, so a shepherd is still her governor and
preserver. But whereas the French have an old
saying, that

Jamais cheval ny homme^
S'amenda pour aller k Rome.

Ne'er horse or man did mend
That unto Rome did wend.

Truly I must confess that I find myself much
bettered by it ; for the sight of some of these ruins
did fill me with symptoms of mortification, and
made me more sensible of the frailty of all sublu-
nary things, how all bodies, as well inanimate as
animate, are subject to dissolution and change, and
everything else under the moon, except the love
of your faithful servitor,

J. H.

Rome, September 13, 1621.

XXXIX

"To Sir T. H.y Knight; from Naples

I AM now in the gentle city of Naples, a city
swelling with all delight, gallantry and wealth ;
and truly, in my opinion, the King of Spain's
greatness appears here more eminently than in
Spain itself. This is a delicate luxurious city,
fuller of true-bred cavaliers than any place I saw
yet. The clime is hot, and the constitutions of
the inhabitants more hot.

lOO FAMILIAR LETTERS

The Neapolitan is accounted the best courtier
of ladies, and the greatest embracer of pleasure of
any other people. They say there is no less here
than twenty thousand courtesans registered in the
office of Savelli. This kingdom with Calabria may
be said to be the one moiety of Italy. It extends
itself 450 miles and spreads in breadth 112; it
contains 2700 towns, it hath 20 archbishops, 127
bishops, 13 princes, 24 dukes, 25 marquises, and
800 barons. There are three presidial castles in
this city, and though the kingdom abounds in rich
staple commodities as silks, cottons, and wine, and
that there is a mighty revenue comes to the crown,
yet the King of Spain when he casts up his ac-
count at the year's end makes but little benefit
thereof, for it is eaten up betwixt governors, gar-
risons and officers. He is forced to maintain 4000
Spanish foot, called the Tercia of Naples, in the
castles he hath, 1600 in the perpetual garrison.
He hath icxx) men of arms, 450 light horse ; be-
sides there are five footmen enrolled for every
hundred fire. And he had need to do all this to
keep this voluptuous people in awe, for the story
musters up seven and twenty thousand famous
rebellions of the Neapolitans in less than jcx)
years ; but now they pay soundly for it, for one
shall hear them groan up and down under the
Spanish yoke. And commonly the King of Spain
sends some of his grandees hither to repair their
decayed fortunes, whence the saying sprung : That
the Viceroy of Sicily gnaws, the Governor of

OF JAMES HOWELL loi

Milan eats, but the Viceroy of Naples devours.
Our English merchants here bear a considerable
trade, and their factors live in better equipage and
in a more splendid manner, as in all Italy besides,
than their masters and principals in London.
They ruffle in silks and satins, and wear good
Spanish leather shoes ; while their masters' shoes
upon our Exchange in London shine with black-
ing. At Puzzoli, not far off amongst the Grottes,
there are so many strange stupendous things that
nature herself seemed to have studied of purpose
how to make herself there admired. I reserve the
discoursing of them with the nature of the Taran-
tola and Manna, which is gathered here and no-
where else, with other things, till I see you, for
they are fitter for discourses than a letter. I will
conclude with a proverb they have in Italy of this
people :

Napolitano

Largo di bocca^ stretto di mano.

The Neapolitans

Have wide mouths^ but narrow hands.

They make strong, masculine promises, but fe-
male performances (for deeds are men, but words
are women), and if in a whole flood of compli-
ments one find a drop of reality, it is well. The
first acceptance of a courtesy is accounted the
greatest incivility that can be amongst them and
a ground for a quarrel, as I heard of a German
gentleman that was baffled for accepting only one
invitation to a dinner. — So desiring to be preserved

I02 FAMILIAR LETTERS

still in your good opinion and in the rank of

your servants, I rest always most ready at your

disposing,

J. H.

Naples, October the i, 1621.

XL

To Christopher Jones^ Esquire^ at Gray's Inn ;

from Naples

Honoured Father,

I MUST still style you so, since I was adopted
your son by so good a mother as Oxford* My
mind lately prompted me that I should commit a
great solecism, if amongst the rest of my friends
in England, I should leave you unsaluted, whom
I love so dearly well, especially having such a fair
and pregnant opportunity as the hand of this
worthy gentleman, your cousin Morgan, who is
now posting hence for England. He will tell you
how it fares with me ; how any time these thirty
odd months I have been tossed from shore to
shore, and passed under various meridians, and
am now in this voluptuous and luxuriant city of
Naples. And though those frequent removes and
tumblings under climes of different temperature
were not without some danger, yet the delight
which accompanied them was far greater ; and it
is impossible for any man to conceive the true
pleasure of peregrination but he who actually en-

OF JAMES HOWELL 103

joys and puts it in practice. Believe it, sir, that
one year well employed abroad by one of mature
judgment (which you know I want very much)
advantageth more in point of useful and solid
knowledge than three in any of our Universities.
You know running waters are the purest, so they
that traverse the world up and down have the
clearest understanding, being faithful eye-wit-
nesses of those things which others receive but in
trust, whereunto they must yield an intuitive con-
sent and a kind of implicit faith. When I passed
through some parts of Lombardy, amongst other
things I observed the physiognomies and com-
plexions of the people, men and women, and I
thought I was in Wales, for divers of them have
a cast of countenance and a nearer resemblance
with our nation than any I ever saw yet. And
the reason is obvious, for the Romans having
been near upon three hundred years amongst us,
where they had four legions (before the English
nation or language had any being), by so long a
coalition and tract of time the two nations must
needs copulate and mix, insomuch that I believe
there is yet remaining in Wales many of the
Roman race, and divers in Italy of the British.
Amongst other resemblances, one was in their
prosody and vein of versifying or rhyming, which
is like our bards, who hold agnominations and
enforcing of consonant words or syllables, one
upon the other, to be the greatest elegance, as for
example, in Welsh, " Tewgris todyrris ty'r derrin.

I04 FAMILIAR LETTERS

gwillt," etc. So have I seen divers old rhymes in
Italian running so : " Donne, O danno, che Felo
afironto afironta : In selva salvo a me ; Piu caro
cuore," etc.

Being lately in Rome, amongst other pasquils I
met with one that was against the Scot ; though it
had some gall in it, yet it had a great deal of wit,
especially towards the conclusion, so that I think
if King James saw it he would but laugh at it.

As I remember, some years since, there was a
very abusive satire in verse brought to our king,
and as the passages were a reading before him he
often said, that if there were no more men in
England the rogue should hang for it, at last
being come to the conclusion, which was (after all
his railing) :

Now God preserve the King, the Queen, the peers.
And grant the author long may wear his ears.

This pleased His Majesty so well that he broke
into a laughter, and said, " By my soul, so thou
shalt for me; thou art a bitter, but thou art a
witty knave."

When you write to Monmouthshire, I pray
send my respects to my tutor. Master Moor For-
tune, and my service to Sir Charles Williams ; and
according to that relation which was betwixt us in
Oxford, I rest, your constant son to serve you,

J. H.

Naples, 8 October i6ii.

OF JAMES HOWELL 105

XLI

To Sir y. C. ; from Florence

THIS letter comes to kiss your hands from
fair Florence, a city so beautiful that the
great Emperor (Charles the Fifth) said that she was
fitting to be shown and seen only upon holidays.
She marvellously flourisheth with buildings, with
wealth and artisans; for it is thought that in
serges, which is but one commodity, there are made
two millions every year. All degrees of people live
here, not only well, but splendidly well, notwith-
standing the manifold exactions of the duke upon
all things. For none can buy here lands or bouses
but he must pay eight in the hundred to the duke ;
none can hire or build a house but he must pay
the tenth penny ; none can marry, or commence
suit in law, but there 's a fee to the duke ; none can
bring as much as an egg or sallet to the market
but the duke hath share therein. Moreover, Leg-
horn, which is the key of Tuscany, being a mari-
time and a great mercantile town, hath mightily
enriched this country by being a frank port to all
comers, and a safe rendezvous to pirates as well as
to merchants. Add hereunto that the Duke him-
self in some respects is a merchant, for he some-
times engrosseth all the cprn of the country, and
retails it at what rate he pleaseth. This enables
the Duke to have perpetually 20,000 men en-

io6 FAMILIAR LETTERS

rolled, trained up, and paid, and none but they can
carry arms. He hath 400 light horse in constant
pay, and icxD men at arms besides, and all these
quartered in so narrow a compass that he can com-
mand them all to Florence in twenty-four hours.
He hath twelve galleys, two galleons, and six gal-
leasses besides, and his galleys are called the black
fleet, because they annoy the Turk more in the
bottom of the Straits than any other.

This state is bound to keep good quarter with
the Pope more than others, for all Tuscany is
fenced by Nature herself, I mean with mountains,
except towards the territories of the Apostolic
See and the sea itself; therefore it is called a coun-
try of iron.

The Duke's palace is so spacious that it occu-
pieth the room of fifty houses at least ; yet, though
his court surpasseth the bounds of a duke's, it
reacheth not to the magnificence of a king's. The
Pope was solicited to make the Grand Duke a king,
and he answered that he was content he should be
king in Tuscany, not of Tuscany; whereupon one
of his counsellors replied that it was a more glori-
ous thing to be a grand duke than a petty king.

Among other cities which I desired to see in
Italy, Genoa was one where I lately was, and found
her to be the proudest for buildings of any I met
withal, yet the people go the plainest of any other,
and are also most parsimonious in their diet ; they
are the subtlest, I will not say thfe most subdolous
dealers; they are wonderful wealthy, especially in

OF JAMES HOWELL 107

money. In the year 1600, the King of Spain owed
them eighteen millions, and they say it is double
as much now.

From the time they began to finger the Indian
gold, and that this town hath been the scale by
which he hath conveyed his treasure to Flanders
since the wars in the Netherlands, for the support
of his armies^ and that she had got some privileges
for the exportation of wools, and other commodi-
ties (prohibited to others) out of Spain, she hath
improved extremely in riches, and made Saint
George's Mount swell higher than Saint Mark's
in Venice.

She hath been often ill-favouredly shaken by
the Venetian, and hath had other enemies which
have put her to hard shifts for her own defence,
specially in the time of Louis the Eleventh of
France, at which time, when she would have given
herself up to him for protection. King Louis being
told that Genoa was content to be his, he an-
swered : " She should not be his long, for he would
give her up to the devil and rid his hands of her."

Indeed, the Genoese have not the fortune to be
so well beloved as other people in Italy, which
proceeds, I believe, from their cunningness and
over-reachings in bargaining, wherein they have
something of the Jew. The Duke is there but
biennial, being changed every two years. He hath
fifty Germans for his guard. There be four cen-
turions that have two men apiece, which upon
occasions attend the Signiory abroad in velvet

io8 FAMILIAR LETTERS

coats ; there be eight chief governors and four
hundred counsellors, amongst whom there be five
sovereign Syndics, who have authority to censure
the duke himself, his time being expired, and
punish any governor else, though after death,
upon the heir.

Amongst other customs they have in that town,
one is, that none must carry a pointed knife about
him, which makes the Hollander, who is used to
"snik and snee," to leave his horn-sheath and
knife a shipboard when he comes ashore. I met
not with an Englishman in all the town, nor could
I learn of any factor of ours that ever resided there.

There is a notable little active republic towards
the midst of Tuscany called Lucca, which, in re-
gard she is under the Emperor's protection, he
dares not meddle withal, though she lie as a par-
tridge under a falcon's wings, in relation to the
Grand Duke ; besides there is another reason
of state why he meddles not with her, because
she is more beneficial unto him now that she is
free, and more industrious to support this freedom,
than if she were become his vassal; for then it is
probable she would grow more careless and idle,
and so could not vent his commodities so soon
which she buys for ready money, wherein most
of her wealth consists. There is no state that
winds the penny more nimbly and makes quicker
returns.

She hath a council called the Discoli, which prys
into the profession and life of every one, and once

OF JAMES HOWELL 109

a year they rid the state of all vagabonds. So
that this petty pretty republic may not be im-
properly paralleled to a hive of bees, which have
been always the emblems of industry and order.

In this splendid city of Florence there be many
rarities, which, if I should insert in this letter, it
would make her swell too big ; and, indeed, they
are fitter for parole communication. Here is the
prime dialect of the Italian spoken, though the
pronunciation be a little more guttural than that
of Siena and that of the Court of Rome, which
occasions the proverb :

Lingua Tuscana in bocca Romana.

The Tuscan tongue sounds best in a Roman mouth.

The people here generally seem to be more
generous and of a higher comportment than else-
where, very cautious and circumspect in their
negotiation, whence arises the proverb :

Chi ha da far con Tosco,
Non bisogna che sia Losco.

Who dealeth with a Florentine,
Must have the use of both his e'en.

I shall bid Italy farewell now very shortly, and
make my way over the Alps to France, and so
home by God's grace, to take a review of my
friends in England, amongst whom the sight of
yourself will be as gladsome to me as of any other;
for I profess myself, and purpose to be ever, your
thrice affectionate servitor, J. H.

Florence, i November 160.1.

no FAMILIAR LETTERS

XLII

To Capt. Francis Bacon ; from Turin

I AM now upon point of shaking hands with
Italy, for I am come to Turin, having already
seen Venice the rich, Padua the learned, Bologna
the fat, Rome the holy, Naples the gentle, Genoa
the proud, Florence the fair, and Milan the great.
From this last, I came hither, and in that city also
appears the grandeur of Spain's monarchy very
much. The governor of Milan is always captain-
general of the cavalry to the King of Spain through-
out Italy. The Duke of Feria is now governor ;
and being brought to kiss his hands, he used me
with extraordinary respect, as he doth all of our
nation, being by the maternal side a Dormer. .The
Spaniard entertains there also 3CX>d foot, looo light
horse, and 600 men at arms in perpetual pay ; so
that I believe the benefit of that duchy also, though
seated in the richest soil of Italy, hardly counter-
vails the charge. Three things are admired in
Milan, the Duomo or great church (built all of
white marble within and without), the hospital, and
the castle, by which the citadel of Antwerp was
traced, and is the best-conditioned fortress of
Christendom, though Nova Palma, a late fortress
of the Venetians, would go beyond it, which is
built according to the exact rules of the most
modern engineering, being of a round form.

OF JAMES HOWELL iii

with nine bastions, and a street level to every
bastion.

The Duke of Savoy, though he pass for one
of the princes of Italy, yet the least part of his
territories lie there, being squandered up and down
amongst the Alps, but as much as he hath in Italy,
which is Piedmont, is a well-peopled and passing
good country.

The Duke of Savoy Emanuel is accounted to
be of the ancientest and purest extraction of any
prince in Europe, and his knights also of the
Annunciate to be -one of the ancientest orders.
Though this present duke be little in stature, yet
is he of a lofty spirit, and one of the best soldiers
now living ; and though he be valiant enough, yet
he knows how to patch the lion's skin with a fox's
tail. And whosoever is Duke of Savoy had need
be cunning, and more than any other prince, in
regard that lying between two potent neighbours,
the French and the Spaniard, he must comply
with both.

Before I wean myself from Italy, a word or two
touching the genius of the nation. I find the Ital-
ian a degree higher in compliment than the French ;
he is longer and more grave in the delivery of it,
and more prodigal of words, insomuch that if one
were to be worded to death, Italian is the fittest
language in regard of the fluency and softness of it;
for throughout the whole body of it, you have not a
word ends with a consonant, except some few mon-
osyllables, conjunctions and prepositions, and this

112 FAMILIAR LETTERS

renders the speech more smooth, which made one
say, " That when the confusion of tongues hap-
pened at the building of the Tower of Babel, if the
Italian had been there, Nimrod had made him a plas-
terer." Theyare generally indulgent of themselves,
and great embracers of pleasure, which may pro-
ceed fromthe luscious rich wines andluxurious food,
fruits, and roots, wherewith the country abounds.
Insomuch, that in some places Nature may be said
to be lena suij a bawd to herself. The Cardinal de
Medicis' rule is of much authority amongst them,
" That there is no religion under the navel." And
some of them are of the opinion of the Asians,
who hold that touching those natural passions,
desires, and motions, which run up and down in
the blood, God Almighty and His handmaid Na-
ture did not intend they should be a torment to us,
but to be used with comfort and delight. To con-
clude, in Italy there be" Virtu tes magnae, nee mi-
nora vitia " (great virtues and no less vices).

So with a tender of my most affectionate respects
unto you I rest, your humble servitor, ' J. H.

Turin, 30 November.

XLIII

To Sir y. H. ; from Lyons

I AM now got over the Alps and returned to
France. I had crossed and clambered up the
Pyrenees to Spain before ; they are not so high and

OF JAMES HOWELL 113

hideous as the Alps, but for our mountains in
Wales, as Eppint and Penwinmaur, which are so
much cried up amongst us, they are molehills in
comparison of these, they are but pigmies com-
pared to giants, but blisters compared to impost-
humes, or pimples to warts. Besides our mountains
in Wales bear always something useful to man or
beast, some grass at least ; but these uncouth huge
monstrous excrescences of nature, bear nothing
(most of them) but crzggy stones. The tops of
some of them are blanched over all the year long
with snows, and the people who dwell in the
valleys drinking for want of other thft snow
water, are subject to a strange swelling in the
throat, called Goitre, which is common amongst
them.

As I scaled the Alps, my thoughts reflected upon
Hannibal, who with vinegar and strong waters did
eat out a passage through those hills, but of late
years they have found a speedier way to do it by
gunpowder.

Being at Turin, I was by some disaster brought
to an extreme low ebb in money, so that I was
forced to foot it along with some pilgrims, and with
gentle pace and easy journeys, to climb up those
hills till I came to this town of Lyons, where a
countryman of ours, one Mr Lewis, whom I knew
in Alicante, lives factor, so that now I want not
anything for my accommodation.

This is a stately rich town, and a renowned mart
for the silks of Italy and other Levantine com-

ii6 FAMILIAR LETTERS

become the head-stone of the corner — I say, since
they were refused by Calvin, they seem to shun
and scorn all the world besides, being cast, as it
were, into another mould, which hath quite altered
their very natural disposition in point of moral
society.

Before I part with this famous city of Lyons I
will relate unto you a wonderful strange accident
that happened here not many years ago. There is
an officer called Le Chevalier du Guet, which is a
kind of night guard, here as well as in Paris, and
his lieutenant, called Jaquette, having supped one
night in a rich merchant's house, as he was pass-
ing the round afterwards, he said, I wonder what
I have eaten and drunk at the merchant's house,
for I find myself so hot that if I met with the
devil's dam to-night I should not forbear using
of her. Hereupon, a little after, he overtook a
young gentlewoman masked, whom he would
needs usher to her lodging, but discharged all his
watch except two. She brought him, to his think-
ing, to a little low lodging hard by the city wall,
where there were only two rooms. And after he
had enjoyed her, he desired that, according to the
custom of French gentlemen, his two comrades
might partake also of the same pleasure. So she
admitted them one after the other. And when all
this was done, as they sat together, she told them
if they knew well who she was, none of them
would have ventured upon her. Thereupon she
whistled three times and all vanished. The next

\

OF JAMES HOWELL 117

morning the two soldiers that had gone with
Lieutenant Jaquette were found dead under the
city wall amongst the ordure and excrements, and
Jaquette himself a little way off half dead, who
was taken up, and coming to himself again, con-
fessed all this, but died presently after.

The next week I am to go down the Loire
towards Paris, and thence as soon as I can for
England, where, amongst the rest of my friends,
whom I so much long to see after this triennial
separation, you are like to be one of my first ob-
jects. In the meantime I wish the same happi-
ness may attend you at home as I desire to attend
me homewards, for I am, truly yours,

J. H.

Lyons, 5 December 1621.

EPISTOL/E HO-ELIANiE

SECTION II

f

SECTION II

I
To my Father

IT hath pleased God after almost three years'
peregrination by land and sea, to bring me
back safely to London ; but although I am come
safely, I am come sickly; for when I landed in
Venice, after so long a sea-voyage from Spain, I
was afraid the same defluxion of salt rheum which
fell from my temples into my throat in Oxford,
and distilling upon the uvulla impeached my
utterance a little to this day, had found the same
channel again, which caused me to have an issue
made in my left arm for the diversion of the hu-
mour. I was well ever after till I came to Rouen,
and there I fell sick of a pain in the head, which,
with the issue, I have carried with me to England.
Doctor Harvey, who is my physician, tells me that
it may turn to a consumption, therefore he hath
stopped the issue, telling me there is no danger
at all in it, in regard I have not worn it a full
twelvemonth. My Brother, I thank him, hath
been very careful of me in this my sickness, and
hath come often to visit me. I thank God I have

122 FAMILIAR LETTERS

passed the brunt of it, and am recovering, and
picking up my crumbs apace. There is a flaunt-
ing French Ambassador come over lately, and 'I
believe his errand is nought else but compliment,
for the King of France being lately at Calais, and
so in sight of England, he sent his ambassador.
Monsieur Cadenet, expressly to visit our king. He
had audience two days since, where he with his
train of ruffling long-haired monsieurs carried him-
self in such a light garb, that after the audience,
the king asked my Lord Keeper Bacon what he
thought of the French Ambassador; he answered
that he was a tall, proper man ; Aye, his Majesty
replied, but what think you of his head-piece ? Is
he a proper man for the oflfice of an ambassador.
" Sir," said Bacon, " tall men are like high houses
of four or five storys, wherein commonly the up-
permost room is worst furnished."

So, desiring my brothers and sisters, with the
rest of my cousins and friends in the country,
may be acquainted with my safe return to Eng-
land, and that you would please to let me hear
from you by the next conveniency, I rest, your
dutiful son,

J. H.

London, 2 February 1621.

OF JAMES HOWELL 123

II
To Rich. Altbatitj Esq. ; at Norberry

G^ALVEpars animae dimidiata meae. Hail, half
\^ my soul, my dear Dick, etc. I was no sooner
returned to the sweet bosom of England, and had
breathed the smoke of this town, but my memory
ran suddenly on you, the idea of you hath almost
ever since so filled up and engrossed my imagina-
tion, that I can think on nothing else, the love of
you swells both in my breast and brain with such
a pregnancy that nothing can deliver me of this
violent high passion but the sight of you. Let
me despair if I lie, there was never female longed
more after anything by reason of her growing em-
bryon, than I do for your presence. Therefore, I
pray you make haste to save my longing, and
tantalise me no longer ('tis but three hours' rid-
ing), for the sight of you will be more precious
to me than any one object I have seen (and I have
seen many rare ones) in all my three years' travel ;
and if you take this for a compliment (because I
am newly come from France) you are much mis-
taken in your

J. H.

London, i February 1621.

m

124 FAMILIAR LETTERS

III

7(7 Z). Caldwallj Bjq^ at Battersea

MY DEAR DAN, — I am come at last to
London, but not without some danger, and
through divers difficulties, for I fell sick in France,
and came so over to Kent And my journey from
the seaside hither was more tedious to me than from
Rome to Rouen, where I grew first indisposed ;
and in good faith I cannot remember anything to
this hour how I came from Gravesend hither, I
was so stupefied, and had lost the knowledge of
all things. But I am come to myself indifferently
well since, I thank God for it, and you cannot im-
agine how much the sight of you, much more your
society, would revive me ; your presence would be
a cordial unto me more restorative than exalted
gold, more precious than the powder of pearl,
whereas your absence, if it continue long, will
prove unto me like the dust of diamonds, which is
incurable poison. I pray be not accessory to my
death, but hasten to comfort your so long, weather-
beaten friend. — Yours,

J.H.

London, February i, 1621.

OF JAMES HOWELL 125

IV

To Sir James Crofts ; at the L. Darcy's in St

Ositb

I AM got again safely to this side of the sea, and
though I was in a very sickly case when I first
arrived, yet thanks be to God I am upon point
of perfect recovery, whereunto the sucking in of
English air and the sight of some friends conduced
not a little.

There is fearful news come from Germany. You
know how the Bohemians shook off the Emperor's
yoke, and how the great Council of Prague fell
to such a hurly-burly that some of the imperial
counsellors were hurled out at the windows. You
heard also, I doubt not, how they offered the
crown to the Duke of Saxony, and he waiving it,
they sent ambassadors to the Palsgrave, whom they
thought might prove par negotioy and to be able to
go through-stitch with the work, in regard of his
powerful alliance, the King of Great Britain being
his father-in-law, the King of Denmark, the Prince
of Orange, the Marquis of Brandenburg, the Duke
Bouillon, his uncles, the States of Holland his con-
federates, the French king his friend, and the Duke
of Bavaria his near ally. The Prince Palsgrave
made some difficulty at first, and most of his
counsellors opposed it ; others incited him to it.

126 FAMILIAR LETTERS

and amongst other hortatives they told him that
if he had the courage to venture upon a King of
England's sole daughter he might very well venture
upon a sovereign crown when it was tendered him.
Add hereunto that the States of Holland did mainly
advance the work, and there was good reason in
policy for it ; for their twelve years' truce being
then upon point of expiring with Spain, and find-
ing our king so wedded to peace that nothing
could divorce him from it, they alighted upon this
design to make him draw his sword, and engage
him against the house of Austria for the defence
of his sole daughter and his grandchildren. What
His Majesty will do hereafter I will not presume
to foretell, but hitherto he hath given little coun-
tenance to the business, nay, he utterly misliked it
first. For whereas Doctor Hall gave the Prince
Palsgrave the title of King of Bohemia in his pul-
pit prayer> he had a check for his pains, for I heard
His Majesty should say that there is an implicit tie
amongst kings which obligeth them, though there
be no other interest or particular engagement to
stick unto, and right one another upon insurrection
of subjects. Therefore he had more reason to be
against the Bohemians than to adhere to them in
the deposition of their sovereign prince. The King
of Denmark sings the same note, nor will he also
allow him the appellation of king. But the fear-
ful news I told you of at the beginning of this
letter is that there are fresh tidings brought how
the Prince Palsgrave had a well-appointed army

OF JAMES HOWELL 127

of about 25,cx)0 horse and foot near Prague, but
the Duke of Bavaria came with scarce half the
number, and notwithstanding his long march gave
them a sudden battle and utterly routed them,
insomuch that the new King of Bohemia, having
not worn the crown a whole twelvemonth, was
forced to fly with his queen and children, and after
many difliculties they write that they are come to
the castle of Castrein, the Duke of Brandenburg's
country, his uncle. This news affects both court
and city here with much heaviness.

I send you my. humble thanks for the noble cor-
respondence you pleased to hold with me abroad,
and I desire to know by the next when you come
to London, that I may have the comfort of the
sight of you after so long an absence. — Your true
servitor, j. H.

March the i, 1621.

To Dr Fr. Manse//; at A//'Sou/s in Oxford

I AM returned safe from my foreign employ-
ment, from my three years' travel. I did my
best to make what advantage I could of the time,
though not so much as I should ; for I find that
peregrination (well used) is a very profitable
school ; it is a running academy, and nothing
conduceth more to the building up and perfect-
ing of a man. Your honourable uncle. Sir Robert

128 FAMILIAR LETTERS

Mansell, who is now in the Mediterranean, hath
been very notable to me, and I shall ever
acknowledge a good part of my education from
him. He hath melted vast sums of money in the
glass business, a business indeed more proper for
a merchant than a courtier. I heard the king
should say that he wondered Robin Mansell, be-
ing a seaman, whereby he hath got so much hon-
our, should fall from water to tamper with fire,
which are two contrary elements. My father fears
that this glass employment will be too brittle a
foundation for me to build a fortune upon, and
Sir Robert being now at my coming back so far
at sea, and his return uncertain, my father hath
advised me to hearken after some other condi-
tion. I attempted to go secretary to Sir John
Ayres to Constantinople, but I came too late.
You have got yourself a great deal of good
repute by the voluntary resignation you made of
the principality of Jesus College to Sir Eubule
Thelwall in hope that he will be a considerable
benefactor to it. I pray God he perform what he
promiseth, and that he be not overpartial to
North Wales men. Now that I give you the first
summons, I pray you make me happy with your
correspondence by letters. There is no excuse or
impediment at all left now, for you are sure where
to find me, whereas I was a landloper, as the
Dutchman saith, a wanderer and subject to uncer-
tain removes, and short sojourns in divers places
before. So with appreciation of all happiness to

OF JAMES HOWELL 129

you here and hereafter, I rest, at your friendly
dispose,

J.H.

March 5, 161 8,

VI

To Sir Eubule Thelwall^ Knight ^ and Principal
ofjesus College in Oxford

I SEND you most due and humble thanks, that,
notwithstanding I have played the truant and
been absent so long from Oxford, you have been
pleased lately to makfe choice of me to be Fel-
low of your new Foundation in Jesus College,
whereof I was once a member. As the quality of
my fortunes and course of life run now, I cannot
make present use of this your great favour, or pro-
motion rather, yet I do highly value it and humbly
accept of it, and intend, by your permission, to re-
serve and lay it by as a good warm garment against
rough weather if any fall on me. With this my
expression of thankfulness, I do congratulate the
great honour you have purchased both by your
own beneficence and by your painful endeavour
besides, to perfect that National College, which
hereafter is like to be a monument of your fame
as well as a seminary of learning and will perpetu-
ate your memory to all posterity.

God Almighty prosper and perfect your under-
takings, and provide for you in heaven those re-

I30 FAMILIAR LETTERS

wards which such public works of piety use to be
crowned withal ; it is the appreciation of, your truly
devoted servitor, J. H.

London, idibus March i6ii.

VII

To my Father

ACCORDING to the advice you sent me in
your last, while I sought after a new course
of employment, a new employment hath lately
sought after me ; my Lord Savage hath two young
gentlemen to his sons, and I am to go travel with
them. Sir James Crofts (who so much respects
you) was the main agent in this business, and I am
to go shortly to Long Melford in Suffolk and
thence to Saint Osith in Essex to the Lord Darcy.
Queen Anne is lately dead of a dropsy in Den-
mark House, which is held to be one of the fatal
events that followed the last fearful comet that rose
in the tail of the constellation of Virgo, which some
ignorant astronomers that write of it, would fix in
the heavens, and that as far above the orb of the
moon as the moon is from the earth. But this is
nothing in comparison of those hideous fires that
are kindled in Germany blown first by the Bohe-
mians, which is like to be a war without end, for
the whole House of Austria is interested in the
quarrel, and it is not the custom of that house to
sit by any affront or forget it quickly. Queen

O- THE

«^NIVERSITY

OF

^LiFeg^j^F JAMES HOWELL 131

Anne left a world of brave jewels behind ; but one,
Piero, an outlandish man who had the keeping of
them, embezzled many and is run away. She left
all she had to Prince Charles, whom she ever loved
best of all her children, nor do I hear of any legacy
she left at all to her daughter in Germany ; for that
match, some say, lessened something of her affec-
tion towards her ever since, so that she would often
call her Goody Palsgrave, nor could she abide Sec-
retary Win wood ever after, who was one of the chief-
est instruments to bring that match about, as also
for the rendition of the cautionary towns in the Low
Countries, Flushing and Brill, with the Ramma-
kins. I was lately with Sir John Walter and others
of your counsel about law business, and some of
them told me that Master J. Lloyd, your adversary,
is one of the shrewdest solicitors in all the thir-
teen shires of Wales, being so habituated to law
suits and wrangling, that he knows any of the least
starting holes in every court. I could wish you had
made a fair end with him, for besides the cumber \

and trouble, specially to those that dwell at such a
huge distance from Westminster Hall as you do.
Law is a shrewd pickpurse, and the lawyer, as I
heard one say wittily not long since, is like a Christ-
mas-box which is sure to get whosoever loseth.

So with the continuance of my due and daily
prayers for your health, with my love to my
brothers and sisters, I rest, your dutiful son,

J. H.

March 20, 161 8.

132 FAMILIAR LETTERS

VIII

To Dan Caldwall^ Esq. ; from the Lord Sav^
age^s House in Long Melford

My dear D.,

THOUGH considering my former condition
of life I may now be called a country man,
yet you cannot call me a rustic (as you would im-
ply in your letter) as long as I live in so civil and
noble a family, as long as I lodge in so virtuous
and regular a house as any I believe in the land,
both for economical government and the choice
company, for I never saw yet such a dainty race
of children in all my life together, I never saw yet
such an orderly and punctual attendance of ser-
vants, nor a great house so neatly kept ; here one
shall see no dog, nor a cat, nor cage to cause any
nastiness within the body of the house. The
kitchen and gutters and other offices of noise
and drudgery are at the fag-end, there *s a back-
gate for beggars and the meaner sort of swains to
come in at. The stables butt upon the park, which
for a cheerful rising ground, for groves and brows-
ings for the deer, for rivulets of water, may com-
pare with any, for it shines in the whole land ; it
is opposite to the front of the great house, whence
from the gallery one may see much of the game
when they are a hunting. Now for the gardening
and costly choice flowers, for ponds, for stately

OF JAMES HOWELL 133

large walks, green and gravelly, for orchards and
choice fruits of all sorts, there are few the like in
England : here you have your Bon Christian pear
and Bergamot in perfection, your Muscadel grapes,
in such plenty that there are some bottles of wine
seiit every year to the king ; and one, Mr Daniel,
a worthy gentleman hard by, who hath been long
abroad, makes good store in his vintage. Truly this
house of Long-Melford, though it be not so great,
yet it is so well compacted and contrived, with such
dainty conveniences every way, that if you saw
the landscape of it, you would be mightily taken
with it, and it would serve for a choice pattern to
build and contrive a house by. If you come this
summer to your manor of Sheriff in Essex, you
will not be far off hence ; if your occasions will
permit, it will be worth your coming hither,
though it be only to see him, who would think it
a short journey to go from Saint David's Head
to Dover Cliffs to see and serve you, were there
occasion. — If you would know who the same is,
't is — Yours

J. H.
20 March 16 19.

134 FAMILIAR LETTERS

IX
To Robert Brown, Esquire

THANKS, for one curtesie is a good usher
to bring on another. Therefore it is my
policy at this time to thank you most heartily for
your late copious letter to draw on a second. I
say I thank you a thousand times over for yours
of the third of this present, which abounded with
such variety of news, and ample well-couched re-
lations, that I made many friends by it ; yet I am
sorry for the quality of some of your news, that
Sir Robert Mansell, being now in the Mediter-
ranean with a considerable naval strength of ours
against the Moors, to do the Spaniard a pleasure.
Marquis Spinola should, in a hogling way, change
his master for the time, and, taking commission
from the Emperor, become his servant for invad-
ing the Palatinate with the forces of the King of
Spain in the Netherlands. I am sorry also the
princes of the union should be so stupid as to
suffer him to take Oppenheim by a Parthian kind
of back stratagem, in appearing before the town
and making semblance afterwards to go for
Worms, and then perceiving the forces of the
United Princes to go for succouring of that, to
turn back and take the town he intended first,
whereby I fear he will be quickly master of the
rest. Surely I believe there may be some treach-

OF JAMES HOWELL 135

ery in it, and that the Marquis of Ansback, the
general, was overcome by pistols made of Indian
ingots, rather than af steel, else an army of
40,000, whieh he had under his command, might
have made its party good against Spinola's, less
than 20,000, though never such choice veterans,
but what will not gold do ? It will make a pigmy
too hard for a giant: there's no fence or fortress
against an ass laden with gold. It was the saying
you know of his father, whom partial and ig-
norant antiquity cries up to have conquered the
world, and that he sighed there were no more
worlds to conquer, though he had never one of
the three old parts of the then known world en-
tirely to himself. I desire to know what is be-
come of that handful of men His Majestie sent
to Germany under Sir Horace Vere, which he was
bound to do, as he is one of the Protestant
princes of the union, and what 's become of Sir
Arthur Chichester, who is gone Ambassador to
those parts.

Dear Sir, I pray make me happy still with your
letters; it is a mighty pleasure for us country
folks to hear how matters pass in London and
abroad. You know I have not the opportunity to
correspond with you in like kind, but may happily
hereafter when the tables are turned, when I am
in London and you in the west. Whereas you are
desirous to hear how it fares with me, I pray know
that I live in one of the noblest houses and best
air of England. There is a dainty park adjoining,

136 FAMILIAR LETTERS

where I often wander up and down^ and I have
my several walks. I make one to represent the
Royal Exchange, the pther the middle aisle of
Paul's, another Westminster Hall ; and when I
pass through the herd of deer methinks I am in
Cheapside. So mth a full return of the same
measure of love, as you pleased to send me, I
rest yours,

J. H.
14 May 1612.

TCo R. A It bam ^ Esquire ; from Saint Ositb

LIFE itself is not so dear unto me as your
friendship, nor virtue in her best colours as
precious as your love, which was lately so lively
pourtrayed unto me in yours of the 5th of this
present. Methinks your letter was like a piece of
tissue richly embroidered with rare flowers up and
down, with curious representations and landscapes.
Albeit I have as much stuff as you of this kind
(I mean matter of love), yet I want such a loom
to work it upon I cannot draw it to such a curious
web. Therefore you must be content with homely
polldavie ware from me, for you must not expect
from us country folk such urbanities and quaint
invention that you, who are daily conversant with
the wits of the court, and of the Inns of Court,
abound withal.

OF JAMES HOWELL 137

Touching your intention to travel beyond the
seas the next spring, and the intimation you make
how happy you would be in my company, I let
you know that I am glad of the one, and much
thank you for the other, and will think upon it,
but I cannot resolve yet upon anything. I am
now here at the Earl Rivers, a noble and great
knowing lord, who hath seen much of the world
abroad. My Lady Savage, his daughter, is also
here with divers of her children. I hope this
Hilary term to be merry in London, and amongst
others to re-enjoy your conversation principally,
for I esteem the society of no soul upon earth
more than yours. Till then I bid you farewell,
and as the season invites me I wish you a merry
Christmas, resting yours while

Jam. Howell.

December 20, 1621.

XI

To Captain Thomas Porter upon bis return

from Algiers Voyage

Noble Captain,

I CONGRATULATE your safe return from
the Straits, but am sorry you were so straitened
in your commission that you could not attempt
what such a brave naval power of twenty men-of-
war, such a gallant general and other choice know-
ing commanders might have performed if they

138 FAMILIAR LETTERS

had had line enough. I know the lightness and
nimbleness of Algiers ships ; when I lived lately in
Alicante and other places upon the Mediterranean,
we would every week hear some of them chased,
but very seldom taken ; for a great ship following
one of them may be said to be as a mastiff dog
running after a hare. I wonder the Spaniard came
short of the promised supply for furtherance of
that notable adventurous design you had to fire
the ships and galleys in Algiers road. And accord-
ing to the relation you pleased to send me it was
one of the bravest enterprises and had proved such
a glorious exploit that no story could have paral-
leled ; but it seems their hoggies, magicians and
maribots were tampering with the ill spirit of the
air all the while, which brought down such a still
cataract of rain waters suddenly upon you to hinder
the working of your fireworks. Such a disaster,
the story tells us, befell Charles the Emperor, but
far worse than yours, for he lost ships and multi-
tudes of men, who were made slaves, but you came
off with loss of eight men only, and Algiers is
anothergets thing now than she was then, being,
I believe, a hundred degrees stronger by land and
sea, and for the latter strength we may thank our
countryman Ward, and Danskey the butterbag
Hollander, which may be said to have been two
of the fatalest and most infamous men that ever
Christendom bred ; for the one taking all English-
men, and the other all Dutchmen, and bringing
the ships and ordnance to Algiers, they may be

1

I

I

OF JAMES HOWELL 139

said to have been the chief raisers of those pica-
roons to be pirates, which are now come to that
height of strength that they daily endamage and
affront all Christendom. When I consider all the
circumstances and success of this your voyage;
when I consider the narrowness of your com-
mission, which was as lame as the Clerk that
kept it; when I find that you secured the seas
and traffic all the while, for I did not hear of one
ship taken while you were abroad; when I hear
how you brought back all the fleet without the
least disgrace or damage by foe or foul weather
to any ship, I conclude, and so do far better judg-
ments than mine, that you did what possibly could
be done. Let those that repine at the one in the
hundred (which was imposed upon all the Le-
vant merchants for the support of this fleet)
mutter what they will, that you went first to
Gravesend, then to the Land's End, and after to
no end.

I have sent you for your welcome home (in
part) two barrels of Colchester oysters which were
provided for my Lord of Colchester himself, there-
fore I presume they are good and all green finned.
I shall shortly follow, but not to stay long in
England, for I think I must over again speedily
to push on my fortunes. So, my dear Tom, I am
de todas mis entranas^ from the centre of my heart
I am, yours, y tt

' St Osith, December 1622.

I40 FAMILIAR LETTERS

XII

To my Father upon my second going to Travel

I AM lately returned to London, having been
all this while in a very noble family in the
country where I found far greater respects than I
deserved. I was to go with two of my Lord Sav-
age's sons to travel, but finding myself too young
for such a charge, and our religion differing, I have
made choice to go over comrade to a very worthy
gentleman. Baron Altham's son, whom I knew in
Staines, when my brother was there. Truly I hold
him to be one of the hopefulest young men of this
kingdom for parts and person ; he is full of ex-
cellent solid knowledge, as the mathematics, the
law, and other material studies ; besides I should
have been tied to have stayed three years abroad
in the other employment at least ; but I hope to go
back from this by God's grace before a twelve-
month be at an end, at which time I hope the hand
of Providence will settle me in some stable home-
fortune.

The news is that the Prince Palsgrave, with his
lady and children, are come to the Hague in Hol-
land, having made a long progress or rather a pil-
grimage about Germany fi-om Prague. The old
Duke of Bavaria, his uncle, is chosen elector and
arch-sewer of the Roman Empire in his place (but
as they say in an imperfect diet), and with this

1

OF JAMES HOWELL 141

proviso, that the transferring of this election upon
the Bavarian shall not prejudice the next heir.
There is one Count Mansfelt that begins to get a
great name in Germany, and he with the Duke of
Brunswick, who is a temporal Bishop of Halver-
stadt, have a considerable army on foot for the
Lady Elizabeth, which in the Low Countries and
some parts of Germany is called the Queen of
Bohemia, and for her winning, princely comport-
ment, the Queen of Hearts. Sir Arthur Chichester
is come back from the Palatinate, much complain-
ing of the small army that was sent thither under
Sir Horace Vere, which should have been greater,
or none at all.

My Lord of Buckingham, having been long
since Master of the Horse at Court, is now made
master also of all the wooden horses of the king-
dom, which indeed are our best horses, for he is to
be High Admiral of England, so he is become
dominus equorum et aquarum. The late Lord Trea-
surer Cranfield grows also very powerful, but the
city hates him for having betrayed their greatest
secrets, which he was capable to know more than
another, having been formeriy a merchant.

I think I shall have no opportunity to write to
you again till I be the other side of the sea ; there-
fore I humbly take my leave, and ask your bless-
ing, that I may the better prosper in my proceed-
ings. So I am, your dutiful son, , tt

March 19, 1622.

142 FAMILIAR LETTERS

XIII

To Sir John Smith, Knight

THE first ground I set foot upon after this
my second trans-marine voyage was Trevere
(the Scots staple) in Zealand, thence we sailed to
Holland, in which passage we might see divers
steeples and turrets under water, of towns that, as
we were told, were swallowed up by a deluge
within the memory of man. We went afterwards
to the Hague, where there are hard by, though in
several places, two wonderful things to be seen —
the one of art the other of nature. That of art is
a waggon or ship, or a monster mixed of both,
like the hippocentaur, who was half man and half
horse. This engine hath wheels and sails, that
will hold above twenty people, and goes with the
wind, being drawn or moved by nothing else, and
will' run, the wind being good and the ssuls
hoisted up, above fifteen miles an hour upon the
even hard sands. They say this invention was
found out to entertain Spinola when he came
hither to treat of the last truce. That wonder of
nature is a church monument, where an earl and
a lady are engraven with 365 children about them,
which were all delivered at one birth ; they were
half male, half female ; the basin hangs in the
church which carried them to be christened, and
the bishop's name who did it ; and the story of

OF JAMES HOWELL 143

this miracle, with the year and the day of the
month mentioned, which is not yet acx) years
ago ; and the story is this : That countess walk-
ing about her door after dinner, there came a
beggar-woman with two children upon her back
to beg alms ; the countess asking whether those
children were her own, she answered she had
them both at one birth, and by one father, who
was her husband. The countess would not only
not give her any alms, but reviled her bitterly,
saying it was impossible for one man to get two
children at once. The beggar-woman being thus
provoked with ill words, and without alms, fell to
imprecations, that it should please God to show
His judgment upon her, and that she might bear
at one birth as many children as there be days in
the year, which she did before the same year's
end, having never borne child before. We are now
in North Holland, where I never saw so many,
among so few, sick of leprosy ; and the reason is,
because they commonly eat abundance of fresh
fish. A gentleman told me that the women of
this country when they are delivered, there comes
out of the womb a living creature besides the
child, called zucchie, likest a bat of any other
creature, which the midwives throw into the fire,
holding sheets before the chimney lest it should
fly away. Master Altham desires his service be
presented to you and your lady, to Sir John
Franklin and all at the Hill, the like do I
humbly crave at your hands. The Italian and

\

144 FAMILIAR LETTERS

French manuscripts you pleased to favour me
withal, I left at Mr Scil's the stationer, whence if
you have them not already, you may please to
send for them. So in all affection I kiss your
hands and am your humble servitor.

J. H.

Trevere, 10 of Aprily 1623. ,

XIV

To the Right Honourable^ the Lord Viscount
Colchester J after Earl Rivers

Right Honourable,

THE commands your lordship pleased to im-
pose upon me when I left England, and those
high favours wherein I stand bound to your lord-
ship, call upon me at this time to send your
lordship some small fruits of my foreign travel.
Marquis Spinola is returned from the Palatinate,
where he was so fortunate, that (like Caesar) he came,
saw, and overcame, notwithstanding that huge army
of the Princes of the Union, consisting of 40,ocx)
men, whereas his was under twenty, but made up
of old tough blades and veteran commanders.
He hath now changed his coat, and taken up his
old commission again from Don Philippo, where-
as during that expedition, he called himself Caesar's
servant. I hear the Emperor hath transmitted the
upper Palatinate to the Duke of Bavaria, as cau-

OF JAMES HOWELL 145

tion for those moneys he hath expended in those
wars. And the King of Spain is the Emperor's com-
missary for the lower Palatinate. They both pre-
tend that they were bound to obey the imperial
summons to assist Caesar in these wars ; the one
as he ^as Duke of Burgundy, the other of Ba-
varia, both which countries are feudatory to the
empire, else they had incurred the imperial ban.
It is feared this German war will be as the French-
man saith, de longue haleine^ long breathed, for there
are great powers on both sides, and they say the
King of Denmark is arming.

Having made a leisurely sojourn in this town,
I had spare hours to couch in writing a survey of
these countries which I have now traversed the
second time, but in regard it would be a great bulk
for a letter, I send it your lordship apart, and when
I return to England, I shall be bold to attend your
lordship for correction of my faults. In the in-
terim I rest, my lord, your thrice humble servitor,

J. H.

Antwerp, May i, 1623.

XV

A Survey of the Seventeen Provinces

My Lord,

O attempt a precise description of each of

T

the seventeen provinces, and of its progres-
sion, privileges and primitive government, were

146 FAMILIAR LETTERS

a task of no less confusion than labour. Let it
suffice to know that since Flanders and Holland
were erected to earldoms, and so left to be an
appendix of the Crown of France, some of them
have had absolute and supreme governors, some
subaltern and subject to a superior power.
Amongst the rest the Earls of Flanders and Hol-
land were most considerable ; but of them two he
of Holland being homageable to none, and hav-
ing Friesland and Zealand added, was the more
potent. In process of time all the seventeen met
in one; some by conquest, others by donation and
legacy, but most by alliance. In the House of
Burgundy this union received most growth, but
in the House of Austria it came to its full per-
fection ; for in Charles the Fifth they all met as
so many lines drawn from the circumference to
the centre, who lording as supreme head not only
over the fifteen temporal, but the two spiritual,
Liege and Utrecht, had a design to reduce them
to a kingdom, which his son Philip the Second
attempted after him, but they could not bring
their intents home to their aim, the cause is im-
puted to that multiplicity and difference of privi-
leges which they are so eager to maintain, and
whereof some cannot stand with a monarchy with-
out incongruity. Philip the Second at his inau-
guration was sworn to observe them, and at his
departure he obliged himself by an oath, to send
still one of his own blood to govern them.
Moreover, at the request of the Knights of the

OF JAMES HOWELL 147

Golden Fleece, he promised that all foreign
soldiers should retire, and that he himself would
come to visit them once every seventh year, but
being once gone, and leaving in lieu of a sword
a distaff, an unwieldy woman, to govern, he came
not only short of his promise, but procured a dis-
pensation from the Pope to be absolved of his
oath, and all this by the counsel of the Cardinal
Granvill, who, as the States Chronicler writes, was
the first firebrand that kindled that lamentable
and longsome war wherein the Netherlands have
traded above fifty years in blood. For intending
to increase the number of bishops, to establish the
decrees of the Council of Trent, and to clip the
power of the Council of State composed of the
natives of the land, by making it appealable to
the Council of Spain, and by adding to the former
oath of allegiance (all which conduced to settle
the Inquisition, and to curb the conscience), the
broils began ; to appease which ambassadors were
dispatched to Spain, whereof the two first came to
violent deaths, the one being beheaded, the other
poisoned. But the two last, Egmont and Horn,
were nourished still with hopes, until Philip the
Second had prepared an army under the conduct
of the Duke of Alva to compose the difference
by arms. For as soon as he came to the govern-
ment he established the Bloet-rady as the com-
plainants termed it, a council of blood, made
up most of Spaniards. Egmont and Horn were
apprehended and afterwards beheaded. Citadels

148 FAMILIAR LETTERS

were erected, and the oath of all^iance vnth the
political government of the country in divers
things altered* This poured oil on the fire
formerly kindled, and put all in combustion.
The Prince of Orange retires, thereupon his eld-
est son was surprised and sent as hostage to
Spain, and above 5000 families quit the country,
many towns revolted but were afterwards reduced
to obedience ; which made the Duke of Alva say,
that the Netherlands appertained to the King of
Spain not only by descent but conquest, and for
cumble of bis victories when he attempted to
impose the tenth penny for maintenance of the
garrisons in the citadels he had erected at Grave,
Utrecht, and Antwerp (where he caused his
statue, made of cannon brass, to be erected,
trampling the Belgians under his feet), all the
towns withstood this imposition, so that at last,
matters succeeding ill with him, and having had
his cousin, Pacecio, hanged at Flushing Gates,
after he had traced out the platform of a citadel
in that town also, he received letters of revocation
from Spain. Him succeeded Don Luys de Re-
quiluis, who came short of his predecessor in ex-
ploits, and dying suddenly in the field, the
government was invested for the time in the
Council of State. The Spanish soldiers, being
without a head, gathered together to the number
of 1600, and committed such outrages up and
down, that they were proclaimed enemies to the
state. Hereupon, the pacification of Ghent was

OF JAMES HOWELL 149

transacted, whereof, amongst other articles one
was, that all foreign soldiers should quit the
country ; this was ratified by the King, and ob-
served by Don John of Austria, who succeeded
in the government; yet Don John retained the
landskneghts at his devotion still for some secret
design, and, as some conjectured, for the invasion
of England, he kept the Spaniards also still
hovering about the frontiers ready upon all occa-
sion. Cert;ain letters were intercepted that made
a discovery of some projects which made the war
to bleed afresh. Don John was proclaimed en-
emy to the state ; so the Archduke Matthias was
sent for, who, being a man of small importance
and improper for the times, was dismissed, but
upon honourable terms. Don John, a little after,
dies, and, as some gave out, of the pox; then
comes in the Duke of Parma, a man as of a
different nation, being an Italian, so of a different
temper and more moderate spirit and of greater
performance than all the rest, for, whereas all the
provinces except Luxemburg and Hainault had
revolted, he reduced Ghent, Tourney, Bruges,
Malines, Brussels, Antwerp (which three last he
beleaguered at one time), and divers other great
towns to the Spanish obedience again ; he had
60,000 men in pay, and the choicest which Spain
and Italy could afford. The French and English
ambassadors, interceding for a peace, had a short
answer of Philip the Second, who said that he
needed not the help of any to reconcile himself

ISO FAMILIAR LETTERS

to his own subjects and reduce them to conform-
itjy but the difference that was he would refer to
his cousin the Emperor. Hereupon, the business
was agitated at Cologne, where the Spaniard stood
as high a-tiptoe as ever, and notwithstanding the
vast expense of treasure and blood he had been
at for so many years, and that matters b^ran to
exasperate more and more which were like to
prolong the wars in infiniiumy he would abate no-
thing in point of ecclesiastical government. Here-
upon, the States perceived that King Philip could
not be wrought either by the solicitations of other
princes or their own supplications so often reit-
erated, that they might enjoy the freedom of
religion with other enfranchisements, and finding
him inexorable, being incited also by that ban
which was published against the Prince of
Orange, that whosoever killed him should have
50CXD croinrns, they at last absolutely renounced
and abjured the King of Spain for their sov-
ereign ; they broke his seals, changed the oath of
allegiance, and fled to France for shelter. They
inaugurated the Duke of Anjou (recommended
unto them by the Queen of England, to whom he
was a suitor) for their prince, who attempted to
render himself absolute and so thought to sur-
prise Antwerp, where he received an ill-favoured
repulse ; yet nevertheless the United Provinces,
for so they termed themselves ever after, fearing
to distaste their next great neighbour France,
made a second proffer of their protection and

OF JAMES HOWELL 151

sovereignty to that king, who having too many-
irons in the fire at his own home, the League
growing stronger, arid stronger, he answered them
that his shirt was nearer to him than his doublet.
Then had they recourse to Queen Elizabeth, who,
partly for her own security, partly for interest in
religion, reached them a supporting hand and so
sent them men, money, and a governor, the Earl
of Leicester, who not symbolising with their
humour was quickly revoked, yet without any
outward dislike on the Queen's side, for she left
her forces still with them, but upon their expense.
She lent them afterwards some considerable sums
of money and she received Flushing and the Brill
for caution. Ever since the English have been the
best sinews of their war and achievers of the great-
est exploits amongst them. Having thus made sure
work with the English, they made young Count
Maurice their governor, who for twenty-five years
together held task with the Spaniard, and during
those traverses of war was very fortunate; an over-
ture of peace was then propounded, which the States
would not hearken unto singly, with the King of
Spain, unless the Provinces that yet remained under
him would engage themselves for performance of
what was articled ; besides they would not treat
either of peace or truce, unless they were declared
Free States, all which was granted. So by the in-
tervention of the English and French ambassadors,
a truce was concluded for twelve years.

These wars did so drain and discommodate the

152 FAMILIAR LETTERS

King of Spain by reason of his distance (every
soldier that he sent other from Spain or Italy
costing him near upon a hundred crowns before
he could be rendered in Flanders), that notwith-
standing his mines of Mexico and Peru, it
plunged him so deeply in debt, that having taken
up moneys in all the chief banks of Christendom,
he was forced to publish a diploma wherein he
dispensed with himself (as the Holland story hath
it) from payment alleging that he had employed
those moneys for the public peace of Christen-
dom. This broke many great bankers, and they
say his credit was not current in Seville or Lisbon,
his own towns ; and which was worse, while he
stood wrestling thus with his own subjects, the
Turk took his opportunity to get from him
Tunis and the Goletta, the trophies of Charles
the Fifth, his father. So eager he was in this
quarrel, that he employed the utmost of his
strength and industry to reduce this people to his
will, in regard he had an intent to make these
provinces his main rendezvous and magazine of
men-of-war, which his neighbours perceiving, and
that he had a kind of aim to be Western mon-
arch, being led not so much for love as reasons
of state, they stuck close to the revolted pro-
vinces, and this was the bone that Secretary
Walsingham told Queen Elizabeth he would cast
the King of Spain that should last him twenty
years, and perhaps make his teeth shake in his head.
But to return to my first discourse whence this

OF JAMES HOWELL 153

digression has snatched me. The Netherlands, who
had been formerly knit and concentred under one
sovereign prince, were thus dismembered ; and as
they subsist now, they are a state and a province.
The province having ten of the seventeen, at least,
is far greater, more populous, better soiled, and
more stored with gentry. The state is richer and
stronger, the one proceeding from their vast navi-
gation and commerce, the other from the quality
of their country, being defensible by rivers and
sluices, by means whereof they can suddenly over-
whelm all the whole country, witness that stupen-
dous siege of Ley den and Haarlem, for most of
their towns, the marks being taken away, are inac-
cessible by reason of shelves of sands. Touching
the transaction of these provinces which the King of
Spain made as a dowry to the Archduke Albertus,
upon marriage with the Infanta (who thereupon left
his red hat and Toledo mitre, the chiefest spiritual
dignity in Christendom for revenue after the Pap-
acy), it was fringed with such cautelous restraints,
that he was sure to keep the better end of the staff
still to himself, for he was to have the tutelage and
ward of his children ; that they were to marry with
one of the Austrian family recommended by Spain,
and in default of issue, and in case Albertus should
survive the Infanta, he should be but governor
only. Add hereunto that King Philip reserved still
to himself all the citadels and castles, with the Order
of the Golden Fleece, whereof he is Master, as he
is Duke of Burgundy. ^

154 FAMILIAR LETTERS

The Archduke for the time hath a very princely
command. All coins bear his stamp, all placards or
edicts are published in his name, he hath the elec-
tion of all civil officers and magistrates. He nomi-
nates also bishops and abbots, for the Pope hath
only the confirmation of them here, nor can he ad-
journ any out of the country to answer anything,
neither are his Bulls of any strength without the
Prince's placet, which makes him have always some
commissioners to execute his authority. The people
here grow hotter and hotter in the Roman cause
by reason of the mixture with Spaniards and Ital-
ians, as also by the example of the Archduke and
the Infanta, who are devout in an intense degree.
There are two supreme councils, the Privy Coun-
cil and that of the State ; this treats of confederations
and intelligence with foreign princes, of peace and
war, of entertaining or of dismissing colonels and
captains, of fortifications, and they have the super-
intendency of the highest affairs that concern the
Prince and the policy of the provinces. The pri-
mate hath the granting of all patents and bequests,
the publishing of all edicts and proclamations, the
prizing of coin, the looking to the confines and ex-
tent of the provinces, and the enacting of all new
ordinances. Of these two councils there is never
a Spaniard, but in the actual Council of War their
voices are predominant. There is also a Court of
Finance or Exchequer, whence all they that have
the fingering of the King's money must draw a
discharge. ^ Touching matters of justice, their law is

^^

OF JAMES HOWELL 155

mixed between civil and common, with some clauses
of canonical. The High Court of Parliament is
at Malines, whither all civil causes may be brought
by appeal from other towns, except some that have
municipal privileges, and are sovereign in their own
jurisdictions, as Mons in Hainault,and a few more.
The prime province for dignity is Brabant,
which, amongst many other privileges it enjoyeth,
hath this for one, not to appear upon any summons
out of its own precinct, which is one of the reasons
why the Prince makes his residence there: but
the prime for extent and fame is Flanders, the
chiefest earldom in Christendom, which is three
days' journey in length ; Ghent, its metropolis, is
reputed the greatest town of Europe, whence arose
the proverb, " Les flamene tient un Gan, qui
tiendra Paris dedans." But the beautifulest, rich-
est, strongest, and most privileged city is Antwerp
in Brabant, being the marquisate of the Holy
Empire, and drawing near to the nature of a Hans-
Town, for she pays the Prince no other tax but
the impost. Before the dissociation of the seven-
teen provinces, this town was one of the^ greatest
marts of Europe, and greatest bank this side the
Alps, most princes having their factors here to
take up or let out moneys, and here our Gresham
got all his wealth, and built our Royal Exchange
by model of that here. The merchandise brought
hither from Germany, France, and Italy by land,
and from England, Spain, and the Hans-Towns
by sea, was estimated at above twenty millions of

156 FAMILIAR LETTERS

crowns every year; but as no violent thing is
long lasting, and as it is fatal to all kingdoriris, states,
towns, and languages to have their period, so this
renowned mart hath suffered a shrewd eclipse, yet
no utter downfall, the exchange of the King of
Spain's money and some small land traffic keeping
still life in her, though nothing so full of vigour
as it was. Therefore, there is no town under the
Archduke where the States have more concealed
friends than in Antwerp, who would willingly
make them her masters in hope to recover her
former commerce, which, after the last twelve
years' truce, began to revive a little, the States
permitting to pass by Lillo's sconce, which com-
mands the river of Scheld, and lyeth in the teeth
of the town, some small cross-sailed ships to pass
hither. There is no place hath been more passive
than this, and more often pillaged ; amongst other
times she was once plundered most miserably by
the Spaniards under the conduct of a priest, im-
mediately upon Don John of Austria's death ; she
had then her Stadt-House burned, which had cost
a few ye^rs before above twenty thousand crowns
the building, and the spoils that were carried away
thence amounted to forty tuns of gold. Thus she
was reduced not only to poverty but a kind of cap-
tivity, being commanded by a citadel, which she
preferred before a garrison ; this made the mer-
chants retire and seek a more free rendezvous, some
in Zealand, some in Holland, specially in Amster-
dam, which rose upon the fall of this town, as Lis-

OF JAMES HOWELL 157

bon did from Venice upon the discovery of the
Cape of Good Hope, though Venice be not near
so much crestfallen.

I will now steer my discourse to the United
Provinces, as they term themselves, which are six
in number, viz., Holland, Zealand, Friesland,
Overyssel, Groningen, and Utrecht, three parts
of Gelderland, and some frontier towns and places
of contribution in Brabant and Flanders. In all
these there is no innovation at all introduced,
notwithstanding this great change in point of
government, except that the College of States
represents the duke or earl in times passed;
which college consists of the chiefest gentry of
the country, superintendents of towns, and the
principal magistrates. Every province and great
town chooses yearly certain deputies, to whom
they give plenary power to deliberate with the
other states of all affairs touching the public
welfare of the whole province, and what they vote
stands for law. These being assembled, consult of
all matters of state, justice and war ; the advocate
who is prime in the assembly propounds the
business, and after collects the suffrages, first of
the provinces, then of the towns, which being put
in form, he delivers in pregnant and moving
speeches ; and in case there be a dissonance and
reluctancy of opinions, he labours to accord and
reconcile them ; concluding always with the major
voices.

Touching the administration of justice, the

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President, who is monthly changed, with the great
council, have the supreme judicature, from whose
decrees there 's no appeal, but a reviaon ; and
then some of the choicest bwyers amongst them
are appointed.

For their Oppidan government they have vari-
ety of offices, a Scout, Burgomasters, a Bailie, and
Vroetschoppens. The Scout is chosen by the
States, who with the bailies have the judging of all
criminal matters in last resort without appeal,
they have also the determining of dvil causes, but
those are appealable to the Hague. Touching
their chiefest governor (or general rather now),
having made proof of the S{>aniard, German,
French, and English, and agreeing with none of
them, they lighted at last upon a man of their
own mould. Prince Maurice, now their general,
in whom concurred divers parts suitable to such
a charge, having been trained up in the wars by his
father, who, with three of his uncles and divers
of his kindred, sacrificed their lives in the States'
quarrel ; he hath thriven well since he came to
the government ; he cleared Friesland, Overyssel,
and Groningen in less than eighteen months. He
hath now continued their governor and general
by sea and land above thirty-three years ; he hath
the election of magistrates, the pardoning of
malefactors, and divers other prerogatives, yet
they are short of the reach of sovereignty, and of
the authority of the ancient Counts of Holland,
though I cannot say it is a mercenary employ-

OF JAMES HOWELL 159

ment, yet he hath a limited allowance, nor hath
he any implicit command when he goes to the
field, for either the council of war marcheth with
him, or else he receives daily directions from
them. Moreover, the States themselve? reserve
the power of nominating all commanders in the
army, which, being of sundry nations, deprive him
of those advantages he might have to make him-
self absolute. Martial discipline is nowhere so
regular as amongst the States ; nowhere are there
lesser insolences committed upon the burgher,
nor robberies upon the country boors, nor are the
officers permitted to insult over the common sol-
dier. When the army marcheth, not one dares
take so much as an apple off a tree, or a root out
of the earth, in their passage ; and the reason is,
that they are punctually paid their pay, else I be-
lieve they would be insolent enough, and were not
the pay so certain, I think few or none would
serve them. They speak of sixty thousand they
have in perpetual pay by land and sea, at home
and in the Indies. The King of France was used
to maintain a regiment, but since Henry the
Great's death the payment hath been neglected.
The means they have to maintain these forces, to
pay their governor, to discharge all other expense,
as the preservation of their dikes which comes to
a vast expense yearly, is the ancient revenue of
the Counts of Holland, the impropriate church-
livings, imposts upon all merchandise,, which is
greater upon exported than imported goods.

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excise upon all commodides^ as well for necessity
as pleasure, taxes upon every acre of ground,
which is such that the whole country returns into
their hands every three years. Add hereunto the
art they use in their bank by the rise and fall of
money, the fishing upon our coasts ; whither they
send every autumn above 700 hulks or busses,
which, in the voyages they make, return above
a million in herrings ; moreover their fishing for
green fish and salmon amounts to so much more ;
and for their cheese and butter it is thought they
vend as much every year as Lisbon doth spices.
This keeps the common treasury always full, that
upon any extraordinary service or design there
is seldom any new tax upon the people. Traffic is
their general profession, being all either mer-
chants or mariners, and, having no land to
manure, they furrow the sea for their living ; and
this universality of trade, and their banks of ad-
ventures, distributes* the wealth so equally, that
few amongst them are exceeding rich or exceed-
ing poor. Gentry amongst them are very thin,
and, as in all democracies, little respected, and,
coming to dwell in towns, they soon mingle with
the merchant, and so degenerate. Their soil,
being all betwixt marsh and meadow, is so fat in
pasturage that one, cow will give eight quarts of
milk a day, so that, as a boor told me, in four
little dorps near Harlem it is thought there is as
much milk milked in the year as there is Rhenish
wine brought to Dort, which is the sole staple of

OF JAMES HOWELL i6i

it. Their towns are beautiful and neatly built, and
with uniformity, that who sees one sees all. In
some places, as in Amsterdam, the foundation
costs more than the superstructure, for, the
ground being soft, they are constrained to ram in
huge stakes of timber (with wool about it to pre-
serve it from putrefaction) till they come to a firm
basis ; so that, as one said, whosoever could see
Amsterdam under ground should see a huge
winter forest.

Amongst all the confederate provinces Holland
is most predominant, which, being but six hours*
journey in breadth, contains nine-and-forty walled
towns, and all these within a day's journey one of
another. Amsterdam for the present is one of the
greatest mercantile tow^s in Europe. To her is ap-
propriated the East and West Indies trade, whither
she sends yearly forty great ships, with another
fleet to the Baltic Sea, but they send not near so
many to the Mediterranean as England. Other
towns are passably rich and stored with shipping,
but not one very poor, which proceeds from the
wholesome policy they use, to assign every town
some firm staple commodity, as to (their maiden
town) Dort the German wines and corn, to Mid-
dleburg the French and Spanish wines, to Trevere
(the Prince of Orange's town) the Scots trade.
Leyden, in recompense of her long siege, was
erected to an university, which, with Franiker in
Friesland, is all they have ; Harlem for knitting and
weaving hath some privilege ; Rotterdam hath the

i62 FAMILIAR LETTERS

English cloth, and this renders their towns so equal-
ly rich and populous. They allow free harbour to
all nations with liberty of religion (the Roman only
excepted), as far as the Jew who hath two syna-
gogues allowed him, but only in Amsterdam, which
piece of policy they borrow of the Venetian, with
whom they have very intimate intelligence ; only
the Jews in Venice, in Rome and other places go
with some outward mark of distinction, but here
they wear none ; and these two republics, that in
the east and this in the west, are the two remoras
that stick to the great vessel of Spain, that it can-
not sail to the Western monarchy.

I have been long in the survey of these pro-
vinces, yet not long enough, for much more might
be said which is fitter for a story than a survey.
I will conclude with a mot or two of the people,
whereof some have been renowned in times past
for feats of war. Amongst the States, the Hol-
lander or Batavian hath been most known, for some
of the Roman emperors have had a selected guard
of them about their persons for their fidelity and
valour, as now the King of France hath of the
Swiss. The Frisians also have been famous for
those large privileges wherewith Charlemagne en-
dowed them. The Flemings also have been illus-
trious for the martial exploits they achieved in the
East, where two of the Earls of Flanders were
crowned emperors. They have all a genius inclined
to commerce, very inventive and witty in manu-
factures, witness the art of printing, painting, and

OF JAMES HOWELL 163

colouring in glass ; those curious quadrants, chimes
and dials ; those kind of waggons which are used
up and down Christendom were first used by them ;
and for the mariner's compass, though the matter
be disputable betwixt the Neapolitan, the Portugal,
and them, yet there is a strong argument on their
side in regard they were the first that subdivided
the four cardinal winds to two and thirty, others
naming them in their language.

There is no part of Europe so haunted with all
sorts of foreigners as the Netherlands, which makes
the inhabitants, as well women as men, so well
versed in all sorts of languages, so that in Exchange
time one may hear seven or eight sorts of tongues
spoken upon their bourses. Nor are the men only
expert herein, but the women and maids also in
their common hostelries, and in Holland the wives
are so well versed in bargaining, ciphering and
writing, that in the absence of their husbands in
long sea voyages they beat the trade at home, and
their words will pass in equal credit. These women
are wonderfully sober, though their husbands make
commonly their bargains in irink, and then are
they most cautelous. This confluence of strangers
makes them very populous, which was the cause
that Charles the Emperor said that all the Nether-
lands seemed to him but as one continued town.
He and his grandfather Maximilian, notwithstand-
ing the choice of kingdoms they had, kept their
courts most frequently in them, which showed how
highly they esteemed them, and I believe if Philip

1 64 FAMILIAR LETTERS

the Second had visited them sometimes matters
had not gone so ill.

There is no part of the earth, considering die
small circuit of country, which is estimated to be
but as big as the fifth part of Italy, where one
may find more diflfering customs, tempers, and
humours of people than in the Netherlands. The
Walloon is quick and sprightful, accostable and
full of compliment, and gaudy in apparel, like
his next neighbour the French ; the Fleming and
Brabanter somewhat more slow and sparing of
speech ; the Hollander slower than he, more surly
and respecdess of gentry and strangers, homely
in his clothing, of very few words, and heavy in
action, which may be well imputed to the quality
of the soil, which works so strongly upon the
humours that when people of a more vivacious
and nimble temper come to mingle with them,
their children are observed to partake rather of
the soil than the sire. And so it is in all animals
besides.

Thus I have huddled up some observations of
the Low Countries, beseeching your lordship
would be pleased to pardon the imperfections and
correct the errors of them, for I know none so
capable to do it as your lordship, to whom I am
a most humble and ready servitor, j^ jj^

Antwerp, i May 160.2.

OF JAMES HOWELL 165

XVI

To my Brother^ Mr Hugh Penry^ upon bis

Marriage

YOU have had a good while the interest of
a friend in me, but you have me now in
a straighter tie, for I am your brother by your
late marriage, which hath turned friendship into
an alliance. You have in your arms one of my
dearest sisters, who I hope, nay I know, will make
a good wife. I heartily congratulate this marriage,
and pray that a blessing may descend upon it from
that place where all marriages are made, which is
from heaven, the fountain of all felicity. To this
prayer I think it no profaneness to add the saying
of the lyric poet Horace, in whom I know you de-
light much, and I send it you as a kind of epitha-
lamium, and wish it may be verified in you both:

Faelices ter et amplius

Quos imipta tenet copula, nee malis
Divulsus querimoniis

Suprema citius solvet amor die.

Thus Englished :

That couple 's more than trebly blest
Which nuptial bonds do so combine.

That no distaste can them untwine
Till the last day send both to rest.

So, dear brother, I much rejoice for this alliance,

1 66 FAMILIAR LETTERS

and wish you may increase and multiply to your
heart's content. — Your affectionate brother,

J- H.

May the 20, 1622.

XVII
To my Brother^ Dr Howe/I; from Brussels

I HAD yours in Latin at Rotterdam, whence
I corresponded with you in the same language.
I heard, though not from you, since I came to
Brussels, that our sister Anne is lately married to
Mr Hugh Penry. I am heartily glad of it, and
wish the rest of our sisters were so well bestowed,
for I know Mr Penry to be a gentleman of a great
deal of solid worth and integrity, and one that
will prove a great husband and a good economist.
Here is news that Mansfelt hath received a
foil lately in Germany, and that the Duke of
Brunswick, alias Bishop of Halverstadt, hath lost
one of his arms. This makes them vapour here
extremely, and the last week I heard of a play the
Jesuits of Antwerp made, in derogation, or rather
derision, of the proceedings of the Prince Palsgrave,
where, amongst divers other passages, they feigned
a post to come puffing upon the stage, and being
asked what news, he answered how the Palsgrave
was like to have shortly a huge formidable army,
for the King of Denmark was to send him a hun-
dred thousand, the Hollanders a hundred thou^

OF JAMES HOWELL 167

sand, and the King of Great Britain a hundred
thousand ; but being asked thousands of what ?
he replied the first would send a hundred thousand
red herrings, the second a hundred thousand
cheeses, and the last a hundred thousand ambas-
sadors, alluding to Sir Richard Weston and Sir
Edward Conway, my Lord Carlisle, Sir Arthur
Chichester, and lastly, the Lord Digby, who have
been all employed in quality of ambassadors in
less than two years — since the beginning of these
German broils. Touching the last, having been
with the Emperor and the Duke of Bavaria, and
carried himself with such high wisdom in his nego-
tiations with the one and stoutness with the other,
and having preserved Count Mansfelt's troops
from disbanding, by pawning his own argentry
and jewels, he passed this way, where they say
the Archduke did esteem him more than any am-
bassador that ever was in this court, and the report
is yet very fresh of his high abilities.

We are to remove hence in coach towards Paris
the next week, where we intend to winter, or hard
by. When you have opportunity to write to
Wales, I pray present my duty to my father, and
my love to the rest. I pray remember me also
to all at the Hill and the Dale, especially to that
most virtuous gentleman. Sir John Franklin. So,
my dear brother, I pray God continue and im-
prove His blessings to us both, and bring us again
together with comfort. — Your brother, J. H.

June 10, 1622.

i68 FAMILIAR LETTERS

XVIII

To Dr Tbo. Prichard^ at Worcester House

FRIENDSHIP is the great chain of human
society, and intercourse of letters is one of
the chiefest links of that chain. You know this as
well as I, therefore I pray let our friendship, let
our love, that nationality of British love, that vir-
tuous tie of academic love, be still strengthened (as
heretofore), and receive daily more and more
vigour. I am now in Paris, and there is weekly
opportunity to receive and send; and if you please
to send, you shall be sure to receive, for I make
it a kind of religion to be punctual in this kind of
payment. I am heartily glad to hear that you are
become a domestic member to that most noble
family of the Worcesters, and I hold it to be a
very good foundation for future preferment; I
wish you may be as happy in them, as I know
they will be happy in you. France is now barren
of news, only there was a shrewd brush lately be-
twixt the young king and his mother, who, having
the Duke of Epernon and others for her com-
panions, met him in open field about Pont de Ce,
but she went away with the worst ; such was the
rare dutifulness of the king, that he forgave her
upon his knees, and pardoned all her complices.
And now there is an universal peace in this coun-

OF JAMES HOWELL 169

try, which it is thought will not last long, for
there is a war intended against them of the re-
formed religion ; for this king, though he be slow
in speech, yet is he active in spirit, and loves
motion. I am here comrade to a gallant young
gentleman, my old acquaintance, who is full of
excellent parts, which he hath acquired by a choice
breeding, the baron his father gave him both in
the University and in the Inns of Court, so that
for the time I envy no man's happiness. So, with
my hearty commends, and much endeared love
unto you, I rest yours whiles.

Jam. Howell.

Paris, 3 August 1622.

XIX

To the Honourable Sir Tho. Savage {after Lord
Savage)^ at his house upon Tower Hill

THOSE many undeserved favours for which
I stand obliged to yourself and my noble lady,
since the time I had the happiness to come first
under your roof, and the command you pleased to
lay upon me at my departure thence, call upon me
at this time to give you account how matters pass
in France.

That which for the present affords most plenty
of news is Rochelle, which the King threateneth
to block up this spring with an army by sea.

I70 FAMILIAR LETTERS

under the command of the Doke of Nevers, and
by a land aimy under his own conduct : both sides
prepare, he to assault, the Rodiellers to defend.
The King declares that he proceeds not against
them for their religion, which he is still contented
to tolerate, but for holding an assembly against his
declarations. They answer, that their assembly is
grounded upon His Majesty's royal warrant, given
at the dissolution of the last assembly at Lodun,
where he solemnly gave his word to permit them
to reassemble when they would six months after,
if the breaches of their liberty and grievances which
they then propounded were not redressed ; and
they say this being unperformed, it stands not with
the sacred person of a king to violate his promise,
being the first that ever he made them. The King
is so incensed against them that their deputies can
have neither access to his person nor audience of
his council, as they style themselves the deputies
of the assembly at Rochelle ; but if they say they
come from the whole body of them of the pretended
reformed religion he will hear them. The breach
between them is grown so wide that the King re-
solves upon a siege. This resolution of the King's
is much fomented by the Roman clergy, specially
by the Celestines, who have 200,000 crowns of
gold in the Arsenal of Paris which they would
sacrifice all to this service ; besides the Pope sent
him a bull to levy what sums he would of the Gal-
ilean Church for the advancement of his design.
This resolution also is much pushed on by the gen-

OF JAMES HOWELL 171

try, who, besides the particular employments and
pay they shall receive hereby, are glad to have their
young king trained up in arms to make him a mar-
tial man. But for the merchant and poor peasant,
they tremble at the name of this war, fearing their
teeth should be set on edge with those sour grapes
their fathers tasted in the time of the League, for
if the King begin with Rochelle it is feared all
the four corners of the kingdom will be set on fire.
Of all the towns of surety which they of the
religion hold, Rochelle is the chiefest; a place
strong by nature but stronger by art. It is a mar-
itime town, and landward they can by sluices
drown a league's distance; it is fortified with
mighty thick walls, bastions and counterscarps,
and those according to the modern rules of en-
ginry. This amongst other cautionary towns
was granted by Henry the Fourth to them of the
religion for a certain term of years, which being
expired the King saith they are devolved again to
the Crown and so demands them. They of the
religion pretend to have divers grievances ; first,
they have not been paid these two years the
160,000 crowns which the last king gave them
annually to maintain their ministers and garri-
sons; they complain of the King's carriage lately
at Beam (Henry the Great's country), which was
merely Protestant, where he hath introduced two
years since the public exercise of the mass, which
had not been sung there fifty years before. He
altered also there the government of the country,

172 FAMILIAR LETTERS

and in lieu of a viceroy left a governor only ; and
whereas Navarrin was formerly a Court of Parlia-
ment for the whole kingdom of Navaar (that 's
under France), he hath put it down and pub-
lished an edict that the Navarrois should come
to Toulouse the chief town of Languedoc ; and
lastly, he left behind him a garrison in the said
town of Navarrin. These and other grievances
they of the religion proposed to the King lately,
desiring His Majesty would let them enjoy still
those privileges his predecessor, Henry the
Third, and his father, Henry the Fourth, afforded
them by Act of Pacification. But he made them
a short answer : That what the one did in this
point, he did it out of fear ; what the other did,
he did it out of love ; but he would have them
know that he neither loved them nor feared
them; so the business is like to bleed sore on
both sides; nor is there yet any appearance of
prevention.

There was a scufRe lately here betwixt the
Duke of Nevers and the Cardinal of Guise, who
have had a long suit-in-law about an abbey, and,
meeting the last week about the palace, from
words they fell to blows ; the Cardinal struck the
Duke first and so were parted ; but in the after-
noon there appeared on both sides no less than
3000 horse in a field hard by, which shows the
populousness and sudden strength of this huge
city ; but the matter was taken up by the King,
himself, and the Cardinal clapped up in the

OF JAMES HOWELL 173

Bastile, where the King saith he shall abide to
ripen ; for he is but young, and they speak of a
bull that is to come from Rome to decardinalize
him. I fear to have trespassed too much upon
your patience, therefore I will conclude for the
present, but will never cease to profess myself
your thrice humble and ready servitor,

J. H.
Paris, August 18, 1622.

XX

To D. Caldwall, Esq. ; from Poissy

My Dear D.,

TO be free from English, and to have the
more conveniency to fall close to our busi-
ness, Mr Altham and I are lately retired from
Paris to this town of Poissy, a pretty genteel
place at the foot of the great forest of Saint
Germain upon the river Sequana, and within a
mile of one of the King's chiefest standing
houses, and about fifteen miles from Paris. Here
is one of the prime nunneries of all France.
Lewis the Ninth, who in the catalogue of the
French kings is called St Lewis, which title was
confirmed by the Pope, was baptised in this little
town, and after his return from Egypt and other
places against the Saracens, being asked by what
title he would be distinguished from the rest of
his predecessors after his death, he answered that

174 FAMILIAR LETTERS

he desired to be called Lewis of Poissy ; reply
being made that there were divers other places
and cities of renown, where he had performed
brave exploits, and obtained famous victories,
therefore it was more fitting that some of those
places should denominate him. "No," said he,
" I desire to be called Louis of Poissy, because
there I got the most glorious victory that ever I
had, for there I overcame the devil," meaning
that he was christened there.

I sent you from Antwerp a silver Dutch table-
book. I desire to hear of the receipt of it in your
next. I must desire you (as I did once at Rouen)
to send me a dozen pair of the whitest kidskin
gloves for women, and half a dozen pair of
knives, by the merchant's post ; and if you want
anything that France can afford, I hope you
know what power you have to dispose of.
Yours, J. H.

Poissy, September 7, 1622.

XXI

To my Father ; from Paris

I WAS afraid I should never have had ability to
write to you again, I had lately such a danger-
ous fit of sickness ; but I have now passed the
brunt of it. God hath been pleased to reprieve
me and reserve me for more days, which I hope
to have grace to number better. Mr Altham and

OF JAMES HOWELL 175

I having retired to a small town from Paris for
more privacy and sole conversation with the na-
tion, I tied myself to a task for the reading of so
many books in such a compass of time, and there-
upon to make good my word to myself, I used
to watch many nights together, though it was in
the depth, of winter; but returning to this town,
I took cold in the head, and so that mass of
rheum which had gathered by my former watch-
ing, turned to an imposthume in my head, where-
of I was sick above forty days ; at the end they
cauterised and made an issue in my cheek to
make vent for the imposthume, and that saved
my life. At first they let me blood, and I parted
with above fifty ounces in less than a fortnight,
for phlebotomy is so much practised here, that if
one's little finger ache, they presently open a vein,
and so balance the blood on both sides; they
usually let the blood in both arms. And the
commonness of the thing seems to take away all
fear, insomuch that the very women, when they
find themselves indisposed, will open a vein them-
selves ; for they hold that the blood which hath a
circulation and fetcheth a round every twenty-four
hours about the body is quickly repaired again. I
was eighteen days and nights that I had no sleep
but short imperfect slumbers, and those, too, pro-
cured by potions. The tumour at last came so
about my throat, that I had scarce vent left for
respiration, and my body was brought so low with
all sorts of physic, that I appeared like a mere

176 FAMILIAR LETTERS

skeleton. When I was indifferently well recov-
ered, some of the doctors and chirurgeons that
tended me gave me a visit, and amongst other
things they fell in discourse of wines which was
the best, and so by degrees they fell upon other
beverages. And one doctor in the company who
had been in England, told me that we have a
drink in England called ale, which he thought
was the wholsomest liquor that could go into
one's guts, for whereas the body of man is
supported by two columns, viz. the natural heat
and radical moisture, he said, there is no drink
conduceth more to the preservation of the one
and the increase of the other than ale, for while
the Englishmen drank only ale, they were strong
brawny able men, and could draw an arrow an ell
long ; but, when they fell to wine and beer, they
are found to be much impaired in their strength
and age. So the ale bore away the bell among
the doctors.

The next week we advance our course farther
into France towards the river of Loire to Orleans,
whence I shall continue to convey my duty to you.
In the meantime I humbly crave your blessing and
your acknowledgment to God Almighty for my
recovery. Be pleased further to impart my love
amongst my brothers and sisters with all my kins-
men and friends in the country, — So I rest your
dutiful son, J. H.

Paris, December i o, 1 6 2 2 .

OF JAMES HOWELL 177

XXII

To Sir Thomas Savage^ Knight and Baronet

THAT of the fifth of this present which you
pleased to send me was received^ and I begin
to think myself something more than I was, that
you value so much the slender endeavours of my
pen to do you service. I shall continue to improve
your good opinion of me as opportunity shall
serve.

Touching the great threats against Rochelle,
whereof I gave you an ample relation in my last,
matters are become now more calm and rather
inclining to an accommodation, for it is thought
a sum of money will make up the breach ; and to
this end some think all these bravadoes were made.
The Duke of Luynes is at last made Lord High
Constable of France, the prime officer of the crown.
He hath a peculiar court to himself, a guard of a
hundred men in rich liveries, and a hundred thou-
sand livres every year pension. The old Duke
of Lesdiguieres, one of the ancientest soldiers of
France, and a Protestant, is made his lieutenant.
But in regard all Christendom rings of this fa-
vourite, being the greatest that ever was in France
since the Maires of the palace, who came to be
kings afterwards, I will send you herein his legend.
He was born in Province, and is a gentleman by
descent, though of a petty extraction ; in the last

178 FAMILIAR LETTERS

king's time he was preferred to be one of his pages,
who, finding him industrious and a good waiter,
allowed him 300 crowns pension per annum, which
he husbanded so well that he maintained himself
and his two brothers in passable good fashion there-
with. The King observing that, doubled his pen-
sion, and taking notice that he was a serviceable
instrument and apt to please, he thought him fit
to be about his son, in whose service he hath con-
tinued above fifteen years, and he has flown so high
into his favour by a singular dexterity and art he
hath in falconry, and by shooting at birds flying
wherein the King took great pleasure, that he hath
soared to this pitch of honour. He is a man of a
passable good understanding and forecast, of a mild
comportment, humble and debonair to all, and of
a winning conversation. He hath about him choice
and solid heads, who prescribe unto him rules
of policy, by whose compass he steers his course,
which is likely will make him subsist long. He is
now come to that transcendant altitude, that he
seems to have mounted above the reach of envy,
and made all hopes of supplanting him frustrate,
both by the politic guidance of his own actions and
the powerful alliances he hath got for himself and his
two brothers. He is married to the Duke of Mont-
bazon's daughter, one of the prime peers of France.
His second brother, Cadenet (who is reputed the
wisest of the three), married the heiress of Picardy,
with whom he had ^9000 lands a year ; his third
brother. Brand, to the great heiress of Luxemburg,

OF JAMES HOWELL 179

of which house there have been five emperors, so
that these three brothers and their allies would be
able to counterbalance any one faction in France,
the eldest and youngest being made dukes and
peers of France, the other marshal. There are lately
two Ambassadors Extraordinary come hither from
Venice about the Valtolin, but their negotiation is
at a stand until the return of an Ambassador Ex-
traordinary which is gone to Spain. Ambassadors
also are come from the Hague for payment of the
French regiment there, which hath been neglected
these ten years, and to know whether His Majesty
will be pleased to continue their pay any longer ;
but their answer is yet suspended. They have
brought news that the seven ships which were built
for His Majesty in the Tessel are ready. To this
he answered that he desires to have ten more built,
for he intends to finish that design which his father
had afoot a little before his death to establish a
royal company of merchants.

This is all the news that France affords for the
present, the relation whereof, if it prove as accept-
able as my endeavours to serve you herein are
pleasing unto me, I shall esteem myself happy.
So wishing you and my noble lady continuance of
health and increase of honour, I rest your most
humble servitor, J. H.

Paris, 15 December i6aa.

i8o FAMILIAR LETTERS

XXIII

To Sir John North y Knight

I CONFESS you have made a perfect conquest
of me by your late favours, and I yield myself
your captive. A day may come that will enable
me to pay my ransom ; in the interim let a most
thankful acknowledgment be my bail and main-
prize.

I am now removed from off the Seine to the
Loire to the fair town of Orleans. There was here
lately a mixed procession betwixt military and
ecclesiastic for the Maid of Orleans, which is per-
formed every year very solemnly. Her statue
stands upon the bridge, and her clothes are pre-
served to this day, which a young man wore in
the procession, which makes me think that her
story though it sound like a romance is very true,
and I read it thus in two or three chronicles.
When the English had made such firm invasions
in France, that their armies had marched into the
heart of the country, besieged Orleans and driven
Charles the Seventh to Bourges in Berry, which
made him to be called, for the time. King of
Berry, there came to his army a shepherdess,
one Anne de Arque, who with a confident look
and language told the King that she was designed
by heaven to beat the English and drive them
out of France. Therefore she desired a command

OF JAMES HOWELL i8i

in the army, which by her extraordinary confi-
dence and importunity she obtained, and putting
on man's apparel she proved so prosperous that
the siege was raised from before Orleans, arid the
English were pursued to Paris and forced to quit
that, and driven to Normandy. She used to go
oh with marvellous courage and resolution, and
her word was hara ha. But in Normandy she was
taken prisoner, and the English had a fair revenge
upon her, for by an arrest of the Parliament of
Rouen she was burnt for a witch. There is a great
business now afoot in Paris called the Polette,
which if it take effect will tend to correct, at least-
wise to cover a great error in the French govern-
ment. The custom is that all the chief places of
justice throughout all the eight courts of Par-
liament in France, besides a great number of other
offices, are set to sale by the King, and they return
to him unless the buyer liveth forty days after his
resignation to another. It is now propounded
that these casual offices shall be absolutely hered-
itary, provided that every officer pay a yearly re-
venue unto the King, according to the valuation
of and perquisites of the office. This business is
now in hot agitation, but the issue is yet doubtful.
The last you sent I received by Vacandary in
Paris. So highly honouring your excellent parts
and merit, I rest, now that I understand French
indiffisrent well, no more your (she) servant, but
your most faithful servitor, J. H.

Orleans, 3 March 1622

1 82 FAMILIAR LETTERS

XXIV

To Sir yames Crofts ^ Knight

WERE I to freight a letter with compli-
ments, this country would furnish me with
variety, but of news a small store at this present ;
and for compliment it is dangerous to use any to
you who have such a piercing judgment to dis-
cern semblances from realities.

The queen mother is come at last to Paris, where
she hath not been since Ancre's death. The King
is also returned post from Bordeaux, having tra-
versed most part of his kingdom ; he settled peace
everywhere he passed, and quashed divers insurrec-
tions, and by his obedience to his mother, and his
lenity towards all his partisans at Pont de Ce, where
above 400 were slain, and notwithstanding that he
was victorious, yet he gave a general pardon ; he
hath gained much upon the affections of his people.
His Council of State went ambulatory always with
him, and as they say here, never did men manage
things with more wisdom. There is a war ques-
tionless a-fermenting against the Protestants, the
Duke of Epernon, in a kind of rodomontado way,
desired leave of the King to block up Rochelle,
and in six weeks he would undertake to deliver her
to his hands, but I believe he reckons without his
host. I was told a merry passage of this little Gas-
con duke, who is now the oldest soldier of France.

OF JAMES HOWELL 183

Having come lately to Paris he treated with a pan-
der to procure him a courtesan, and if she was a
damosel (a gentlewoman) he would give so much,
and if a citizen he would give so much. The pan-
der did his office, but brought him a citizen clad
in damosel's apparel, so she and her maquerel were
paid accordingly. The next day after, some of his
familiars having understood hereof, began to be
pleasant with the duke and to jeer him, that he be-
ing a vieilroutiery an old tried soldier, should suffer
himself to be so cozened as to pay for a citizen after
the rate of a gentlewoman ; the little duke grew
half wild hereupon, and commenced an action of
fraud against the pander, but what became of it I
cannot tell you, but all Paris rung of it. I hope to
return now very shortly to England, where amongst
the rest of my noble friends I shall much rejoice to
see and serve you, whom I honour with no vulgar
affection, so I am, your true servitor, J. H.

Orleans, 5 March 1622.

XXV

To my Cousin y Mr IV ill Martin at Brussels;

from Paris

Dear Cousin,

I FIND you are very punctual in your perform-
ances, and a precise observer of the promise
you made here to correspond with Mr Altham and

1 84 FAMILIAR LETTERS

me by letters. I thank you for the variety of Ger-
man news you imparted unto me, which was so
neatly couched and curiously knit together, that
your letter might serve for a pattern to the best
intelligencer. I am sorry the affeirs of the Prince
Palsgrave go so untowardly ; the wheel of war may
turn, and that spoke which is now up may down
again. For French occurrences, there is a war cer-
tainly intended against them of the religion here ;
and there are visible preparations afoot already.
Amongst others that shrink in the shoulders at
it, the King's servants are not very well pleased with
it, in regard besides Scots and Swissers, there are
divers of the King's servants that are Protestants.
If a man go to ragioti di stato^ to reason of state,
the French King hath something to justify this
design; for the Protestants being so numerous,
and having near upon fifty presidiary walled towns
in their hands for caution, they have power to
disturb France when they please, and being abet-
ted by a foreign prince to give the King law ; and
you know as well as I how they have been made
use of to kindle a fire in France. Therefore rather
than they should be utterly suppressed, I believe
the Spaniard himself would reach them his rag-
ged-staff to defend them.

I send you here inclosed another from Master
Altham, who respects you dearly, and we remem-
bered you lately at La pomme du pin in the best
liquor of the French grape. I shall be shortly for
London, where I shall not rejoice a little to meet

OF JAMES HOWELL • 185

you ; the English air may confirm what foreign
begun, I mean our friendship and affections, and
in me (that I may return you in English the Latin
verses you sent me) :

As soon a little^ little ant

Shall bib the ocean dry,

A snail shall creep about the world.

Ere these affections die.

So, my dear cousin, may Virtue be your guide
and Fortune your companion. — Yours while

Jam. Howell.

Paris, 18 March 1662.

EPISTOLiE HO-ELIANiE

SECTION III

SECTION III

I

To my Father

I AM safely returned now the second time from
beyond the seas, but I have yet no employment.
God and good friends I hope will shortly provide
one for me.

The Spanish Ambassador, Count Gondamar,
doth strongly negotiate a match betwixt our Prince
and the Infanta of Spain, but at his first audience
there happened an ill-favoured accident (I pray God
it prove no ill augury), for my Lord of Arundell
being sent to accompany him to Whitehall upon
a Sunday in the afternoon, as they were going over
the terrasse,it broke under them, but only one was
hurt in the arm. Gondamar said that he had not
cared to have died in so good company. Hesaith
there is no other way to regain the Palatinate but
by this match, and to settle an eternal peace in
Christendom.

The Marquis of Buckingham continueth still
in fulness of grace and favour. The countess, his
mother, sways also much at court. She brought
Sir Henry Montague from delivering law on the
King's Bench to look to his bags in the Exchequer,
for she made him Lord High Treasurer of Eng-

I90 FAMILIAR LETTERS

land ; but he parted with his white staff before the
year's end, though his purse had bled deeply for
it (above ^20,000), which made a lord of this land
to ask him at his return from court "whether he
did not find that wood was extremely dear at New-
market/* for there he received the white staff.
There is now a notable stirring man in the place,
my Lord Cranfield, who, from walking about the
Exchange, is come to sit Chief Judge in the Ex-
chequer Chamber, and to have one of the highest
places at the council table. He is married to one
of the tribe of Fortune, a kinswoman of the Mar-
quis of Buckingham. Thus there is rising and fall-
ing at court, and as in our natural pace one foot
cannot be up till the other be down, so it is in the
affairs of the world commonly — one man riseth
at the fall of the other.

I have no more to write at this time, but that
with tender of my duty to you, I desire a continu-
ance of your blessing and prayers. Your dutiful
son, J. H.

London, March 22, 1622.

II

To the Honourable Mr John Savage {now
Earl Rivers) at Florence

MY love is not so short but it can reach as
far as Florence to find you out, and further,
too, if occasion required, nor are these affections

OF JAMES HOWELL 191

I have to serve you so dull but they can clamber
over the Alps and Apennines to wait upon you,
as they have adventured to do now in this paper.
I am sorry I was not in London to kiss your
hands before you set to sea, and much more
sorry that I had not the happiness to meet you in
Holland or Brabant, for we went the very same
road, and lay in Dort and Antwerp in the same
lodgings you had lain in a fortnight before. I
presume you have by this time tasted of the
sweetness of travel, and that you have weaned
your affections from England for a good while.
You must now think upon home as (one said)
good men think upon heaven, aiming still to go
thither, but not till they finish their course ; and
yours, I understand, will be three years. In the
meantime you must not suffer any melting ten-
derness of thoughts, or longing desires, to distract
or interrupt you in that fair road you are in to
virtue, and to beautify within that comely edifice
which nature hath built without you. I know
your reputation is precious to you, as it should
be to every noble mind ; you have exposed it now
to the hazard, therefore you must be careful it
receive no taint at your return by not answering
that expectation which your Prince and noble
parents have of you. You are now under the
chiefest clime of wisdom, fair Italy, the darling of
nature, the nurse of policy, the theatre of virtue.
But though Italy give milk to Virtue with one
dug, she often suffers Vice to suck at the other ;

igi FAMILIAR LETTERS

therefore you must take heed you mistake not the
dug, for there is an ill-favoured saying that " Inglese
Italionato e diavolo incarnato " (an Englishman-
Italian is a devil incarnate). I fear no such thing of
you, I have had such pregnant proofs of your inge-
nuity and noble inclinations to virtue and honour :
I know you have a mind to both, but I must tell
you that you will hardly get the goodwill of the
latter unless the first speak a good word for you.
When you go to Rome you may haply see the
ruins of two temples, one dedicated to Virtue, the
other to Honour, and there was no way to enter
into the last but through the first. Noble sir,
I wish your good very seriously, and if you please
to call to memory, and examine the circumstance
of things, and my carriage towards you since I had
the happiness to be known first to your honour-
able family, I know you will conclude that I love
and honour you in no vulgar way.

My lord, your grandfather, was complaining
lately that he had not heard from you a good
while. By the next shipping to Leghorn, amongst
other things, he intends to send you a whole
brawn in' collars. I pray be pleased to remember
my affectionate service to Mr Thomas Savage^
and my kind respects to Mr Bold. For English
news I know this packet comes freighted to you,
therefore I forbear at this time to send any. Fare-
well, noble heir of honour, and command always
your true servitor, J. H.

London, March I4, 162a.

OF JAMES HOWELL 193

III

To Sir James Crofts y Knight y at Saint Osith

in Essex

I HAD yours upon Tuesday last, and whereas
you are desirous to know the proceedings of
the Parliament, I am sorry I must write to you
that matters begin to grow boisterous. The King
retired not long since to Newmarket not very
well pleased, and this week there went thither
twelve from the House of Commons, to whom
Sir Richard Weston was the mouth. The King,
not liking the message they brought, called them
his ambassadors, and in the large answer which he
hath sent to the Speaker, he saith that he must
apply unto them a speech of Queen Elizabeth's
to an ambassador of Poland, " Legatum expecta-
vimus, Heraldum accepimus" (We expected an
ambassador, we have received a herald). He takes
it not well that they should meddle with the
match betwixt his son and the Infanta, alleging
an example of one of the kings of France, who
would not marry his son without the advice of his
Parliament; but afterwards that king grew so
despicable abroad that no foreign state would
treat with him about anything without his Parlia-
ment. Sundry other high passages there were;
as a caveat he gave them not to touch the honour
of the King of Spain, with whom he was so far

194 FAMILIAR LETTERS

engaged in a matrimonial treaty that he could not
go back. He gave them also a check for taking
cognizance of those things which had their motion
in the ordinary courts of justice, and that Sir
Edward Coke (though these words were not
inserted in the answer), whom he thought to be
the fittest instrument for a tyrant that ever was in
England, should be so bold as to call the pre-
rogative of the crown a great monster. The Par-
liament after this was not long lived, but broke
up in discontent, and upon the point of dissolu-
tion they made a protest against divers particulars
in the aforesaid answer of His Majesty's. My
Lord Digby is preparing for Spain in quality of
Ambassador Extraordinary, to perfect the match
betwixt our Prince and the Lady Infanta, in which
business Gondamar hath waded already very deep,
and been very active, and ingratiated himself with
divers persons of quality, ladies especially, yet he
could do no good upon the Lady Hatton, whom he
desired lately that in regard he was her next neigh-
bour (at Ely-House) he might have the benefit of
her back gate to go abroad into the fields; but
she put him off with a compliment, whereupon in
a private audience lately with the King amongst
other passages of merriment, he told him that my
Lady Hatton was a strange lady, for she would not
suffer her husband Sir Edward Coke, to come in at
her fore door, nor him to go out at her back door,
and so related the whole business. He was also
dispatching a post lately for Spain, and the post

OF JAMES HOWELL 195

having received his packet and kissed his hands,
he called him back and told him he had forgot
one thing, which was, that when he came to Spain
he should commend him to the sun, for he had
not seen him a great while, and in Spain he
should be sure to find him. — So with my most
humble service to my Lord of Colchester, I rest
your most humble servitor, J, H.

London, March 24, 1622.

IV

To my Brother y Mr Hugh Penry

THE Welsh nag you sent me was delivered
me in a very good plight, and I give you a
thousand thankis for him. I had occasion lately
to try his mettle and his lungs, and every one tells
me he is right, and of no mongrel race, but a
true mountaineer ; for besides his toughness and
strength of lungs up a hill, he is quickly curried,
and content with short commons. I believe he
hath not been long a highway traveller, for
whereas other horses when they pass by an inn or
alehouse use to make towards them to give them
a friendly visit, this nag roundly goes on, and
scorns to cast as much as a glance upon any of
them, which I know not whether I shall impute
it to his ignorance or height of spirit, but convers-
ing with the soft horses of England, I believe he
will quickly be brought to be more courteous.

d

196 FAMILIAR LETTERS

The greatest news we have now is the return
of the Lord Bishop of LandafF, Davenant, Ward,
and Belcanquell from the Synod of Dort, where
the bishop had precedence given him according
to his episcopal dignity, Arminius and Vorstius
were sore baited there concerning predestination,
election, and reprobation, as also touching Christ's
death and man's redemption by it ; then concern-
ing man's corruption and conversion ; lastly, con-
cerning the perseverance of the saints. I shall have
shortly the transaction of the Synod. The Jesuits
have put out a jeering libel against it, and these
two verses I remember in it.

Dordrecti Synodus ? nodus ; chorus integer ? aeger ;
Conventus ? ventus ; Sessio stramen ? Amen.

But I will confront this distich with another I
read in France of the Jesuits in the town of Dole,
towards Lorraine. They had a great house given
them called L'Arc {arcufn)y and upon the river of
Loire, Henry the Fourth gave them La Fliche^
sagittam in Latin, where they have two stately
convents, that is, bow and arrow ; whereupon one
made these verses :

Arcum Dola dedit, dedit illis alma sagittam
^ Francia ; quis chordam, quam meruere, dabit ?

Fair France the arrow. Dole gave them the bow.
Who shall the string which they deserve bestow.

No more now, but that with my dear love to my
sister, I rest your most affectionate brother,

J. H.

London, April 16, 1622.

OF JAMES HOWELL 197

To the Lord Viscount Colchester

My Good Lord^

I RECEIVED your lordship's of the last week,
and according to your command, I send here
enclosed the Venetian Gazette. Of foreign avisos,
they write that Mansfeldt hath been beaten out of
Germany and is come to Sedan, and it is thought
that the Duke of Bovillon will set him up again
with a new army. Marquis Spinola hath newly sat
down before Berghen-op-Zoom, Your lordship
knows well what consequence that town is of,
therefore it is likely this will be a hot summer
in the Netherlands. The French King is in open
war against them of the religion ; he hath already
cleared the Loire by taking Jerseau and Saumur,
where Monsieur du Plessis sent him the keys,
which are promised to be delivered him again, but
I think ad Graecas Calendas. He hath been also
before Saint John d'Angeli, where the young Car-
dinal of Guyse died, being struck down by the
pufFof a cannon bullet, which put him in a burn-
ing fever and made an end of him. The last town
that was taken was Clerac, which was put to
50,000 crowns ransom. Many were put to the
sword and divers gentlemen drowned as they
thought to escape. This is the fifteenth caution-
ary town the King hath taken, and now they say

198 FAMILIAR LETTERS

he marcheth towards Montauban, and so to
Montpellier and Nismes, and then have at
Rochelle, My Lord Hays is by this time, it is
thought, with the army, for Sir Edward Herbert is
returned, having had some clashings and counter-
bufFs with the favourite Luynes, wherein he com-
ported himsejf gallantly. There is a fresh report
blown over that Luynes is lately dead in the army
of the plague, some say of the purples, the next
cousin german to it, which the Protestants give out
to be the just judgment of heaven fallen upon him,
because he incited his master to these wars against
them. If he be not dead, let him die when he
will, he will leave a fame behind him to have been
the greatest favourite for the time that ever was in
France, having from a simple faulconer come to
be High Constable, and made himself and his
younger brother Grand Dukes and peers, and his
second brother Cadenet, Marshal, and all three
married to princely families.

No more now, but that I most humbly kiss
your lordship's hands, and shall be always most
ready and cheerful to receive your commandments,
because I am your lordship's obliged servitor,

J.H.

London, 12 August 1623.

OF JAMES HOWELL 199

VI

To my Father from London

I WAS at a dead stand in the course of my
fortunes when it pleased God to provide me
lately an employment to Spain, whence I hope
there may arise both repute and profit. Some of
the Cape merchants of the Turkey Company,
amongst whom the chiefest were Sir Robert Nap-
per, and Captain Leat proposed unto me that
they had a great business in the Court of Spain in
agitation many years, nor was it now their busi-
ness but the King's, in whose name it is followed.
They could have gentlemen of good quality that
would undertake it. Yet if I would take it upon
me they would employ no other, and assured me
that the employment should tend both to my
benefit and credit. Now the business is this:
There was a great Turkey ship called the Vineyard^
sailing through the straits towards Constantinople,
but by distress of weather she was forced to put
into a little port called Milo, in Sardinia. The
searchers came aboard of her, and finding her richly
laden, for her cargazon of broad-cloth was worth
the first penny near upon ^^30,000, they cavilled at
some small proportion of lead and tin, which they
had only for the use of the ship, which the searchers
alleged to be ropa de contrabandoy prohibited goods,
for by Article of Peace nothing is to be carried to

200 FAMILIAR LETTERS

Turkey that may arm or victual. The Viceroy of
Sardinia hereupon seized upon the whole ship
and all her goods^ landed the master and men in
Spain, who coming to Sir Charles Cornwall's, then
ambassador at the court, Sir Charles could do
them little good at present, therefore they came to
England and complained to the King and Council.
His Majesty was so sensible hereof that he sent
a particular commission in his own royal name
to demand a restitution of the ship and goods,
and justice upon the Viceroy of Sardinia, who had
so apparently broke the peace and wronged his
subjects. Sir Charles (with Sir Paul Pindar a while)
laboured in the business, and commenced a suit in
law, but he was called home before he could do
anything to purpose. After him Sir John Digby
(now Lord Digby) went ambassador to Spain,
and amongst other things he had that particular
commission from His Majesty invested in him to
prosecute the suit in his own royal name. There-
upon he sent a well qualified gentleman, Mr
Walsingham Gresley, to Sardinia, who, unfortun-
ately, meeting with some men-of-war in the pass-
age, was carried prisoner to Algiers. My Lord
Digby being remanded home, left the business in
Mr Cottington's hands, then agent, but resumed
it at his return ; yet it proved such a tedious, in-
tricate suit that he returned again without finish-
ing the work, in regard of the remoteness of the
island of Sardinia, whence the witnesses and other
dispatches were to be fetched. The Lord Digby

OF JAMES HOWELL aoi

is going now Ambassador Extraordinary to the
Court of Spain upon the business of the match,
the restitution of the Palatinate, and other high
affairs of state, therefore he is desirous to transmit
the King's commission touching this particular
business to any gentleman that is capable to fol-
low it, and promiseth to assist him with the ut-
most of his power, and i' faith, he hath good
reason to do so, in regard he hath now a good
round share himself in it About this business I
am now preparing to go to Spain, in company of
the Ambassador, and I shall kiss the King's hands,
as his agent touching this particular commission.
I humbly entreat that your blessing and prayers
may accompany me in this my new employment,
which I have undertaken upon very good terms,
touching expenses and reward. So with my dear
love to my brothers and sisters, with other kin-
dred and friends in the country, I rest your duti-
ful son, J. H.

London, 8 September 1622.

VII

To Sir Tho. Savage^ Knight and Baronet^ at
his house in Long-Melford

I RECEIVED your commands in a letter which
you sent me by Sir John North, and I shall
not fail to serve you in those particulars. It hath
pleased God to dispose of me once more for Spain,

202 FAMILIAR LETTERS

upon a business which I hope will make me good
returns. There have two ambassadors and a royal
agent followed it hitherto, and I am the fourth
that is employed in it* I defer to trouble you with
the particulars of it, in regard I hope to have the
happiness to kiss your hand at Tower Hill before
my departure, which will not be till my Lord
Digby sets forward. He goes in a gallant, splen-
did equipage, and one of the King's ships is to take
him in at Plymouth ; and transport him to the
Corunna or Saint Anderas.

Since that sad disaster which befel Archbishop
Abbott, to kill the man by the glancing of an
arrow as he was shooting at a deer (which kind of
death befel one of our kings once in New Forest),
there had been a commission awarded to debate
whether upon this fact, whereby he hath shed
human blood, he be not to be deprived of his
archbishopric, and pronounced irregular; some
were against him, but Bishop Andrews and Sir
Henry Martin stood stiffly for him, that in regard
it was no spontaneous, act, but a mere contin-
gency, and that there is no degree of men but is
subject to misfortunes and casualties, they declared
positively that he was not to fall from his dignity
or function, but should still remain a regular, and
in statu quoprius; during this debate he petitioned
the King that he might be permitted to retire to
his almshouse at Guildford, where he was born, to
pass the remainder of his life ; but he is now come
to be again rectus in curia, absolutely quitted and

OF JAMES HOWELL 203

restored to all things. But for the wife of him
which was killed, it was no misfortune to her, for
he hath endowed herself and her children with
such an estate, that they say her husband could
never have got. — So I humbly kiss your hands,
and rest your most obliged servitor,

J. H.
London, 9 November 1622.

VIII

To Captain Nich. Leat^from Madrid^ at bis

house in London

I AM safely come to the Court of Spain, and
although by reason of that misfortune which
befel Mr Altham and me, of wounding the ser-
geants in Lombard Street, we stayed three weeks
behind my Lord Ambassador, yet we came hither
time enough to attend him to Court at his first
audience.

The English nation is better looked on now in
Spain than ordinary, because of the hopes there
are of a match, which the merchant and commun-
alty much desire, though the nobility and gentry
be not so forward for it. So that in this point the
pulse of Spain beats quite contrary to that of Eng-
land, where the people are averse to this match,
and the nobility with most part of the gentry in-
clinable.

204 FAMILIAR LETTERS

I have perused all the papers I could get into
my hands touching the business of the ship Vine-
yardy and I find that they are higher than I in
bulk, though closely prest together; I have cast
up what is awarded by all the sentences of view
and review, by the Council of State and War, and
I find the whole sum, as well principal as interest
upon interest, all sorts of damages, and processal
charges, come to above two hundred and fifty
thousand crowns. The Conde del ReaU quondam
Viceroy of Sardinia, who is adjudged to pay most
part of the money, is here, and he is major-domo.
Lord Steward to the Infante Cardinal. If he hath
wherewith, I doubt not but to recover the money,
for I hope to have come in a favourable conjunc-
ture of time, and my Lord Ambassador, who is so
highly esteemed here, doth assure me of his best
furtherance. So praying I may prove as success-
ful, as I shall be faithful in this great business,
I rest yours to dispose of, J. H.

Madrid, 28 December 1622.

IX

To Mr Arthur Hoptoriy from Madrid

SINCE I was made happy with your acquaint-
ance, I have received sundry strong evidences
of your love and good wishes unto me, which
have tied me unto you in no common obligation
of thanks. I am in despair ever to cancel this

OF JAMES HOWELL 205

bond, nor would I do it, but rather endear the
engagement more and more.

The treaty of the match betwixt our Prince and
the Lady Infanta is now strongly afoot. She is a
very comely lady, rather of a Flemish complexion
than Spanish, fair haired, and carrieth a most pure
mixture of red and white in her face ; she is full
and big lipped, which is held a beauty rather than
a blemish or any excess in the Austrian family, it
being a thing incident to most of that race. She
goes now upon sixteen, and is of a tallness agree-
able to those years. The King is also of such a
complexion and is under twenty. He hath two
brothers, Don Carlos and Don Hernando, who
though a youth of twelve, yet he is Cardinal and
Archbishop of Toledo, which, in regard it hath
the Chancellorship of Castile annexed to it, is the
greatest spiritual dignity in Christendom after the
Papacy, for it is valued at 300,000 crowns per
annum. Don Carlos is of a different complexion
from all the rest, for he is black-haired and of a
Spanish hue. He hath neither office, command,
dignity or title, but is an individual companion
to the King, and what clothes soever are provided
for the King he hath the very same, and as often,
from top to toe. He is the better beloved of the
people for his complexion ; for one shall hear the
Spaniard sigh and lament, saying, " O, when shall
we have a king again of our own colour ! "

I pray commend me kindly to all at your house,
and send me word when the young gentlemen

2o6 FAMILIAR LETTERS

return from Italy. So with my most affectionate
respects to yourself, I rest your true friend to
serve you, J- H.

Madrid, 5 January 1622.

7b Captain Nic. Leaf ^ from Madrid

YOURS of the loth of this present I received
by Mr Simon Digby, with the inclosed to
your son in Alicant, which is safely sent. Since my
last unto you I had access to Olivares, the fevourite
that rules all. I had also audience of the King,
to whom I delivered two memorials since, in His
Majesty's name of Great Britain, that a particu-
lar Junta of some of the Council of State and
War might be appointed to determine the busi-
ness. The last memorial had so good success
that the referees are nominated, whereof the chief-
cst is the Duke of Infantado. Here it is not the
style to claw and compliment with the King or
idolize him by Sacred Sovereign and Most Excel-
lent Majesty, but the Spaniard when he petitions
to his king gives him no other character but " Sir,"
and so relating his business; at the end he doth
ask and demand justice of him. When I have
done with the Viceroy here, I shall hasten my
dispatches for Sardinia. Since my last I went to
liquidate the account more particularly, and I find
that of the 250,000 crowns there are above 40,000

OF JAMES HOWELL 207

due unto you, which might serve for a good al-
derman's estate.

Your son in Alicante writes to me of another
mischance that is befallen the ship Amitie about
Majorca, whereof you were one of the proprietaries.
I am very sorry to hear of it, and touching any
dispatches that are to be had hence, I shall en-
deavour to procure you them according to instruc-
tions.

Your cousin, Richard Alt ham, remembers his
kind respects unto you, and sends you many
thanks for the pains you took in freeing us from
that trouble which the scuffle with the sergeants
brought upon us. So I rest yours ready to serve

you, J. H.

Madrid, 5 January 1622.

XI

To the Lord Viscount Colchester y from Madrid

Right Honourable,

THE grand business of the match goes so fairly
on that a special Junta is appointed to treat
of it, the names whereof I send you here inclosed.
They have proceeded so far that most of the
articles are agreed upon. Mr George Gage is
lately come hither from Rome, a polite and pru-
dent gentleman, who hath negotiated some things
in that Court for the advance of the business with
the Cardinals Bandino, Lodovisio, and La Susanna,

2o8 FAMILIAR LETTERS

who are the main men there to whom the drawing
of the dispensation is referred.

The late taking of Ormus by the Persians from
the Crown of Portugal keeps a great noise here,
and the rather because the exploit was done by
the assistance of the English ships that were then
thereabouts. My Lord Digby went to Court and
gave a round satisfaction in this point ; for if was
no voluntary but a constrained act in the English,
who being in the Persian's port were suddenly
embarked for the service; and the Persian herein
did no more than what is usual amongst Chris-
tian princes themselves, and which is oftener put
in practice by the King of Spain and his viceroys,
than by any other, viz., to make an embargo of
any stranger's ship that rides within his ports
upon all occasions. It was feared this surprisal of
Ormus, which was the greatest mart in all the
Orient for all sorts of jewels, would have bred ill
blood, and prejudiced the proceedings of the
match, but the Spaniard is a rational man, and
will be satisfied with reason. Count Olivares is the
main man who sways all, and 'tis thought he is
not so much affected to an alliance with England
as his predecessor the Duke of Lcrma was, who
set it first afoot betwixt Prince Henry and this
Queen of France. The Duke of Lerma was the
greatest privadoy the greatest favourite, that ever
was in Spain since Don Alvaro de Luna. He
brought, himself, the Duke of Uzeda his son, and
the Duke of Cea his grandchild, to be all Grandees

OF JAMES HOWELL 209

of Spain, which is the greatest title that a Spanish
subject is capable of; they ^ave a privilege to stand
covered before the King, and at their election there
is no other ceremony but only these three words
by the King, " Cobrese por Grande " (cover your-
self for a Grandee), and that is all. The Cardinal
Duke of Lerma lives at Valladolid ; he officiates
and sings mass, and passeth his old age in devo-
tion and exercises of piety. It is a common and, in-
deed, a commendable custom amongst the Span-
iard when he hath passed his grand climacteric y and
is grown decrepit, to make a voluntary resignation
of offices be they never so great and profitable
(though I cannot say Lerma did so), and sequest-
ring and weaning themselves, as it were, from all
mundane negotiations and incumbrances, to retire
to some place of devotion, and spend the residue
of their days in meditation and in preparing them-
selves for another world. Charles the Emperor
shewed them the way, who left the empire to his
brother, and all the rest of his dominions to his
son Philip the Second, and so, taking with him
his two sisters, he retired into a monastery, they
into a nunnery. This doth not suit well with the
genius of an Englishman, who loves not to pull
off his clothes till he goes to bed. I will conclude
with some verses I saw under a huge Rodomon-
tado picture of the Duke of Lerma, wherein he is
painted like a giant bearing up the monarchy of
Spain, that of France, and the Popedom, upon
his shoulders, with this stanza —

aio FAMILIAR LETTERS

Sofare loi omfaRS d'cste Adante

Estastrci Momrquias.

Upon the shoulden ^^diis Atks lies

The Popedom and two wi^tty Monarchies

So I most humbly kiss your Lordship's hands,
and rest ever most ready at your Lordship's com-
mand, J. H.

Madrid, 3 February 1622.

XII

T^o my Father

ALL affairs went on fairly here, specially that
of the match when Master Endymion
Porter brought lately my Lord of Bristol a dis-
patch from England of a high nature, wherein the
earl is commanded to represent unto this King
how much His Majesty of Great Britain since the
beginning of these German wars hath laboured to
merit well of this crown, and of the whole House
of Austria, by a long and lingering patience,
grounded still upon assurances hence, that care
should be had of his honour, his daughter's join-
ture, and grandchildren's patrimony; yet how
crossly all things had proceeded in the treaty at
Brussels, managed by Sir Richard Weston, as also
that in the Palatinate by the Lord Chichester;

OF JAMES HOWELL 211

how in treating-time the town and castle of Heidel-
berg were taken, Manheim besieged, and all acts
of hostility used, notwithstanding the fair profes-
sions made by this King, the Infanta at Brussels,
and other his ministers ; how merely out of re-
spect to this King he had neglected all martial
means which probably might have preserved the
Palatinate; those thin garrisons which he had
sent thither being rather for honour's sake to keep
a footing until a general accommodation, than
that he relied any way upon their strength ; and
since that there are no other fruits of all this but
reproach and scorn, and that those good offices
which he used towards the Emperor on the behalf
of his son-in-law, which he was so much encouraged
by letters from hence should take effect, have not
sorted to any other issue, than to a plain affront and
a high injuring of both their Majesties, though in
a different degree ; the earl is to tell him that His
Majesty of Great Britain hopes and desires that
out of a true apprehension of these wrongs offered
unto them both, he will as his dear and loving
brother faithfully promise and undertake upon his
honour, confirming the same under his hand and
seal, either that Heidelberg shall be within seventy
days rendered into his hands ; as also that there
shall be within the said term of seventy days a sus-
pension of arms in the Palatinate, and that a treaty
shall recommence upon such terms as he pro-
pounded in November last, which this King held
then to be reasonable ; and in case that this be not

212 FAMILIAR LETTERS

yielded unto by the Emperor, that then this King
join forces with His Majesty of England, for the
recovery of the Palatinate, which upon this trust
hath been lost ; or in case his forces at this time
be otherwise employed, that they cannot give His
Majesty that assistance he desires and deserves,
that at least he will petmit a free and friendly pass-
age through his territories such forces as His Maj-
esty of Great Britain shall employ in Germany.
Of all which, if the Earl of Bristol hath not from
the King of Spain a direct assurance under his
hand and seal ten days after his audience, that
then he take his leave and return to England to
His Majesty's presence, also to proceed in the ne-
gotiation of the match according to former instruc-
tions.

This was the main substance of His Majesty's
late letter, yet there was a postscript added that in
case a rupture happen betwixt the two crowns the
earl should not come instantly and abruptly away,
but that he should send advice first to England
and carry the business so that the world should
not presently know of it.

Notwithstanding all these traverses we are con-
fident here that the match will take, otherwise my
cake is dough. There was a great difference in one
of the capitulations betwixt the two kings how long
the children which should issue of this marriage
were to continue sub regimine matrisy under the
tutelage of the mother. This King demanded four-
teen years at first, then twelve, but now he is come

OF JAMES HOWELL 213

to nine, which is newly condescended unto. I re-
ceived yours of the ist of September in another
from Sir James Crofts, wherein it was no small
comfort to me to hear of your health. I am to
go hence shortly for Sardinia, a dangerous voyage,
by reason of Algier pirates. I humbly desire your
prayers may accompany your dutiful son,

J. H.
Madrid, 23 February 1622.

XIII

T^o Sir James Crofts y Knight

YOURS of the 2nd of October came to safe
hand with the enclosed. You write that there
came despatches lately from Rome, wherein the
Pope seems to endeavour to insinuate himself into
a direct treaty with England, and to negotiate im-
mediately with our King touching the dispensation,
which he not only labours to evade, but utterly
disclaims, it being by article the task of this King
to procure all despatches thence. I thank you for
sending me this news. You shall understand there
came lately an express from Rome also to this
court, touching the business of the match, which
gave very good content, but the dispatch and new
instructions which Mr Endymion Porter brought
my Lord of Bristol lately from England, touching
the Prince Palatine, filled us with apprehension
of fear. Our ambassadors here have had audience

214 FAMILIAR LETTERS

of this King already about those propositions, and
we hope that Master Porter will carry back such
things as will satisfy. Touching the two points in
the treaty wherein the two kings differed most,
viz., about the education of the children, and the
exemption of the Infanta's ecclesiastic servants
from secular jurisdiction, both these points are
cleared, for the Spaniard is come from fourteen
years to ten, and for so long time the infant princes
shall remain under the mother's government. And
for the other point the ecclesiastical superior shall
first take notice of the offence that shall be com-
mitted by any spiritual person belonging to the
Infanta's family, and according to the merit thereof
either deliver him by degradation to the secular
justice, or banish him the kingdom according to
the quality of the delict, and it is the same that is
practised in this kingdom and other parts that
adhere to Rome.

The Conde de Monterre goes Viceroy to Na-
ples, the Marquis de Montesclaros being put by,
the gallanter man of the two. I was told of a witty
saying of his when the Duke of Lerma had the
vogue in this court ; for going one morning to
speak with the duke, and having danced attend-
ance a long time, he peeped through a slit in the
hanging, and spied Don Rodrigo Calderon, a great
man (who was lately beheaded here for poisoning
the late Queen Dowager), delivering the duke a
paper upon his knees, whereat the marquis smiled
and said, " Voto a tal, aquel hombre sube mas a

OF JAMES HOWELL 215

las rodillas, que yo no hago a los pies " (I swear
that man climbs higher upon his knees than I can
upon my feet). Indeed I have read it to be a true
court rule that descendendo ascendendum est in Aula^
descending is the way to ascend at court. There is
a kind of humility and compliance that is far from
any servile baseness or sordid flattery, and may be
termed discretion rather than adulation. I intend,
God willing, to go for Sardinia this spring. I hope
to have better luck than Master Walsingham
Gresley had, who some few years since in his pass-
age thither upon the same business that I have in
agitation met with some Turkish men-of-war, and
so was carried a slave to Algiers. — So with my
true respects to you, I rest your faithful servant,

J. H.

Madrid, 12 March 1622.

XIV

To Sir Francis Cottington^ Secretary to His High-
ness the Prince of Wales ^ at Saint James

I BELIEVE it will not be unpleasing unto you
to hear of the procedure and success of that
business wherein yourself hath been so long versed
— I mean the great suit against the quondam
Viceroy of Sardinia, the Conde del a Real. Count
Gondomar's coming was a great advantage unto
me, who hath done me many favours, besides a

2i6 FAMILIAR LETTERS

confirmation of the two sentences of view and re-
view, and of the execution against the Viceroy. I
have procured a royal schedule, which I caused to
be printed, and whereof I send you here enclosed
a copy, by which schedule I have power to arrest
his very person ; and my lawyers tell me there was
never such a schedule granted before. I have also
by virtue of it priority of all other his creditors.
He hath made an imperfect overture of a com-
position, and showed me some trivial old-fashioned
jewels, but nothing equivalent to the debt. And
now that I speak of jewels, the late surprisal of
Ormus, by the assistance of our ships, sinks deep
in their stomachs here, and we were afraid it would
have spoiled all proceedings ; but my Lord Digby,
now Earl of Bristol (for Count Gondomar brought
him over his patent), hath calmed all things at his
last audience.

There were luminaries of joy lately here for the
victory that Don Gonzalez de Cordova got over
Count Mansfelt in the Netherlands with that army
which the Duke of Bouillon had levied for him ;
but some say they have not much reason to re-
joice, for though the infantry suffered, yet Mans-
felt got clear with all his horse by a notable retreat,
and they say here it was the greatest piece of
service and art he ever did, it being a maxim
that there is nothing so difficult in the art of war
as an honourable retreat. Besides, the report of
his coming to Breda caused Marquis Spinola to
raise the siege before Berghen, to burn his tents,

OF JAMES HOWELL 217

and to pack away suddenly, for which he is much
censured here.

Captain Leat and others have written to me of
the favourable report you pleased to make of my
endeavours here, for which I return you humble
thanks. And though you have left behind you a
multitude of servants in this court, yet if occasion
were offered, none should be more forward to
go on your errand than your humble and faithful
servitor, J. H.

Madrid, 15 March 1622.

XV

To the Honourable Sir Thos. Savage^ Knight

and Baronet

THE great business of the match was tend-
ing to a period, the articles reflecting both
upon Church and State being capitulated and in-
terchangeably accorded on both sides, and there
wanted nothing to consummate all things, when
to the wonderment of the world the Prince and
the Marquis of Buckingham arrived at this
court on Friday last upon the close of the even-
ing. They alighted at my Lord of Bristors house,
and the Marquis (Mr Thomas Smith) came in
first with a portmanteau under his arm, then
(Mr John Smith) the Prince was sent for, who
stayed a while the other side of the street in the
dark. My Lord of Bristol, in a kind of astonish-

2i8 FAMILIAR LETTERS

ment, brought him up to his bedchamber, where
he presently called for pen and ink, and despatched
a post that night to England to acquaint His
Majesty how in less than sixteen days he was
come safely to the court of Spain. That post went
lightly laden, for he carried but three letters. The
next day came Sir Francis Cottington and Mr
Porter, and dark rumours ran in every corner how
some great man was come from England, and
some would not stick to say amongst the vulgar
it was the King. But towards the evening on Sat-
urday the Marquis went in a close coach to court,
where he had private audience of this King, who
sent Olivares to accompany him back to the Prince,
where he kneeled and kissed his hands, and hugged
his thighs, and delivered how unmeasurably glad
his Catholic Majesty was of his coming, with other
high compliments, which Mr Porter did inter-
pret. About ten o'clock that night the King him-
self came in a close coach with intent to visit the
Prince, who, hearing of it, met him half way, and
after salutations and divers embraces which passed
in the first interview they parted late. I forgot to
tell you that Count Gondomar, being sworn Coun-
cillor of State that morning, having been before
but one of the Council of War, he came in great
haste to visit the Prince, saying he had strange
news to tell him, which was that an Englishman
was sworn Privy Councillor of Spain, meaning
himself, who he said was an Englishman in his
heart. On Sunday following, the King in the after-

OF JAMES HOWELL 219

noon came abroad to take the air with the Queen,
his two brothers, and the Infanta, who were all
in one coach ; but the Infanta sat in the bootikin
with a blue riband about her arm, of purpose that
the Prince might distinguish her. There were
above twenty coaches besides of grandees, noble-
men, and ladies that attended them. And now it
was publicly known amongst the vulgar that it
was the Prince of Wales who had come, and the
confluence of people before my Lord of Bristors
house was so great and greedy to see the Prince,
that to clear the way Sir Lewis Dives went out
and took coach, and all the crowd of people went
after him. So the Prince himself a little after took
coach, wherein there were the Earl of Bristol, Sir
Walter Ashton, and Count Gondomar, and so went
to the Prado, a place hard by, of purpose to take
the air, where they stayed till the King passed
by. As soon as the Infanta saw the Prince her
colour rose very high, which we hold to be an
impression of love and affection, for the face is
oftentimes a true index of the heart. Upon Mon-
day morning after the King sent some of his prime
nobles and other gentlemen to attend the Prince
in quality of officers, as one to be his major-domo
(his steward), another to be master of the horse,
and so too inferior officers, so that there is a com-
plete court now at my Lord of Bristol's house.
But upon Sunday next the Prince is to remove to
the King's palace, where there is one of the chief
quarters of the house providing for him. By the

220 FAMILIAR LETTERS

next opportunity you shall hear more. — In the
interim I take my leave and rest your most hum-
ble and ready servitor, J. H.

Madrid, March i^j^ 1623.

XVI

To Sir Eubule Thelwally Knight y at Grafs Inn

I KNOW the eyes of all England are earnestly
fixed now upon Spain, her best jewel being
here; but his journey was like to be spoiled in
France, for if he had stayed but a little longer at
Bayonne, the last town of that kingdom hither-
wards, he had been discovered, for Monsieur Gra-
mond, the governor, had notice of him not long
after he had taken post. The people here do
mightily magnify the gallantry of the journey, and
cry out that he deserved to have the Infanta thrown
into his arms the first night he came. He hath
been entertained with all the magnificence that
possibly could be devised. On Sunday last, in
the morning betimes, he went to Saint Hierom's
monastery, whence the Kings of Spain used to be
fetched the day they are crowned; and thither
the King came in person with his two brothers,
his eight counsels, and the flower of the nobility.
He rode upon the King's right hand through the
heart of the town under a great canopy, and was
brought so into his lodgings in the King's palace,
and the King himself accompanied him to his very

OF JAMES HOWELL aai

bedchamber. It was a very glorious sight to be-
hold, for the custom of the Spaniard is, though
he go plain in his ordinary habit, yet upon some
festival or cause of triumph, there 's none goes
beyond him in gaudiness.

We daily hope for the Pope's breve or dispen-
sation to perfect the business, though there be
dark whispers abroad that it has come already, but
that upon this unexpected coming of the Prince,
it was sent back to Rome, and some new clauses
thrust in for their further advantage. Till tJiis
despatch comes matters are at a kind of stand ; yet
His Highness makes account to be back in Eng-
land about the latter end of May. God Almighty
turn all to the best, and to what shall be most
conducible to his glory. — So with my due re-
spects unto you, I rest, your much obliged servi-
tor, J. H.

Madrid, April i, 1623.

XVII
To Captain Leat

HAVING brought up the law to the highest
point against the Viceroy of Sardinia, and
that in an extraordinary manner, as may appear
unto you by that printed schedule I sent to you
in my last, and finding an apparent disability in
him to satisfy the debt, I thought upon a new
design, and framed a memorial to the King, and

M2 FAMILIAR LETTERS

wrought good strong means to have it seconded :
that in regard that predatory act of seizing upon
the ship Vineyard in Sardinia with all her goods,
was done by His Majesty's viceroy, his sovereign
minister of state, one that immediately represented
his own royal person, and that the said viceroy
was insolvent, I desired His Majesty would be
pleased to grant a warrant for the relief of both
parties to load so many thousand sterils or meas-
ures of corn out of Sardinia and Sicily custom-
free. I had gone far in the business when Sir
Francis Cottington sent for me, and required me
in the Prince his name to proceed no forther herein
till he was departed. So His Highness' presence
here hath turned rather to my disadvantage than
otherwise. Amongst other grandezas which the
King of Spain conferred upon our Prince, one was
the releasement of prisoners, and that all petitions of
grace should come to him for the first month, but
he hath been wonderful sparing in receiving any,
specially from any English, Irish, or Scot. Your
son Nicholas is come hither from Alicante about
the ship Amityy and I shall be ready to second
him in getting satisfaction. — So I rest yours ready
to serve you, J. H.

Madrid, June 3, 1623.

OF JAMES HOWELL 223

XVIII

To Captain Tho. Porter

Noble Captain,

MY last unto you was in Spanish, in answer
to one of yours in the same language, and
amongst that confluence of English gallants, which
upon the occasion of His Highness being here,
are come to this court, I fed myself with hopes a
long while to have seen you, but I find now that
those hopes were imped with false feathers. I know
your heart is here and your best affections, there-
fore I wonder what keeps back your person ; but
I conceive the reason to be that you intend to
come like yourself, to come commander-in-chief
of one of the castles of the crown, one of the ships
royal. If you come so to this shore side, I hope
you will have time to come to the court. I have
at any time a good lodging for you, and my land-
lady is none of the meanest, and her husband hath
many good parts. I heard her setting him forth
one day and giving this character of him: "Mi
marido es buen musico, buen esgrimidor, buen es-
crivano, excellente arithmetico, salvo que no mul-
tiplica " (My husband is a good musician, a good
fencer, a good horseman, a good penman, and an
excellent arithmetician, only he cannot multiply).
For outward usage there is all industry used to
give the Prince and his servants all possible con-

224 FAMILIAR LETTERS

tentraent, and some of the King's own servants
wait upon them at table in the palace, where I am
sorry to hear some of them jeer at the Spanish
fare, and use other slighting speeches and demean-
our. There are many excellent poems made here
since the Prince's arrival, which are too long to
couch in a letter, yet I will venture to send you
this one stanza of Lope de Vega's :

Carlos Estuardo Soy

Que siendo Amor mi guia
Al cielo d'Espafia voy

Por ver mi Estrella Maria.

There are comedians once a week come to the
palace, where under a great canopy the Queen and
the Infanta sit in the middle, our Prince and Don
Carlos on the Queen's right hand, the King and
the little cardinal on the Infanta's left hand. I
have seen the Prince have his eyes immovably
fixed upon the Infanta half-an-hour together in a
thoughtful, speculative posture, which sure would
needs be tedious, unless affection did sweeten it ;
it was no handsome comparison of Olivares, that
he watched her as a cat doth a mouse. Not long
since the Prince, understanding that the Infanta
was used to go some mornings to the Casa de
Campo, a summer house the King hath on the other
side the river, to gather May dew, he did rise be-
times and went thither, taking your brother with
him. They were let into the house and into the
garden, but the Infanta was in the orchard, and
there being a high partition wall between and

OF JAMES HOWELL 225

the door doubly bolted, the Prince got on the top
of the wall and sprang down a great height, and
so made towards her; but she, spying him first of
all the rest, gave a shriek, and ran back. The old
marquis that was then her guardian came towards
the Prince and fell on his knees, conjuring His
Highness to retire, in regard he hazarded his head
if he admitted any to her company. So the door
was opened, and he came out under that wall over
which he had got in. I have seen him watch a
long hour together in a close coach in the open
street to see her as she went abroad. I cannot say
that the Prince did ever talk with her privately,
yet publicly often, my Lord of Bristol being in-
terpreter, but the King always sat hard by to over-
hear all. Our cousin Archy hath more privilege
than any, for he often goes with his fool's coat
where the Infanta is with her meninas and ladies
of honour, and keeps a-blowing and blustering
amongst them, and flurts out what he list.

One day they were discoursing what a marvel-
lous thing it was that the Duke of Bavaria with
less than 1 5,000 men, after a long toilsome march,
should dare to encounter the Palsgrave's army
consisting of above 25,000, and to give them
an utter discomfiture, and take Prague presently
after. Whereunto Archy answered that he would
tell them a stranger thing than that. Was it not
a strange thing, quoth he, that in the year '88
there should come a fleet of 140 sail from Spain
to invade England, and that ten of these could

/ Or THE ^

I UNIVERSITY 1

226 FAMILIAR LETTERS

not go back to tell what became of the rest ? By
the next opportunity I will send you the Cordo-
van pockets and gloves you wrote for of Fran-
cesco Moreno's perfuming. — So may my dear
captain live long and love his J. H.

Madrid, July lo, 1623.

XIX

To my cousin Tbo. Gum, Esq., at his house

Trecastle

Cousin,

I RECEIVED lately one of yours, which I can-
not compare more properly than to a posy of
curious flowers, there was therein such variety of
sweet strains and dainty expressions of love. And
though it bore an old date, for it was forty days
before it came to safe hand, yet the flowers were
still fresh, and not a whit faded, but cast as strong
and as fragrant a scent as when your hands bound
them up first together, only there was one flower
that did not savour so well, which was the unde-
served character you please to give of my small
abilities, which in regard you look upon me through
the prospective of aflfection, appear greater unto
you than they are of themselves; yet as small as
they are, I would be glad to employ them all to
serve you upon any occasion.

Whereas you desire to know how matters pass
here, you shall understand that we are rather in

OF JAMES HOWELL 227

assurance than hopes that the match will take
efFect, when one despatch more is brought from
Rome which we greedily expect. The Spaniards
generally desire it. They are much taken with
our Prince, with the bravery of his journey, and
his discreet comportment since ; and they confess
there was never princess courted with more gal-
lantry. The wits of the court here have made
divers encomiums of him and of his affection to
the Lady Infanta. Amongst others I send you
a Latin poem of one Marnierius, a Valencian, to
which I add this ensuing hexastich, which, in re-
gard to the difficulty of the verse, consisting of
all ternaries (which is the hardest way of versify-
ing), and of the exactness of the translation, I be-
lieve will give you content.

Fax grata est^ gratum est vulnus^ mihi grata catena est.

Me quibus astringit^ laedit & urit Amor ;

Sed liammam extingui^ sanari vulnera, solvi-

Vincla^ etiam ut possem non ego posse velim :

Minim equidem genus hoc morbi est, incendia & ictus

Vinclaque, vinctus adhuc^ laesus & ustus, amo.

Grateful *s to me the fire, the wound, the chain.
By which love bums, love binds and giveth pain ;
But for to quench this fire, these bonds to loose.
These wounds to heal, I would not could I choose :
Strange sickness, where the wounds, the bonds, the fire
That bums, that bind, that hurt, I must desire.

In your next I pray send me your opinion of
these verses, for I know you are a critic in poetry.
Mr Vaughan of the Golden Grove and I were com-

m8 familiar letters

rades and bedfellows here many months together.
His father. Sir John Vaughan, the Prince, his
controller, is lately come to attend his master.
My Lord of Carlisle, my Lord of Holland, my
Lord of Rochfort, my Lord of Denbigh, and
divers others are here, so that we have a very
flpurishing court, and 1 could wish you were here
to make one of the number. So, my dear cousin,
I wish you all happiness, and our noble Prince a
safe and successful return to England. — Your most
affectionate cousin,

J.H.

Madrid, 13 August 16123.

XX

To my Noble Friend Sir yohn North

THE long looked for dispensation is come
from Rome, but I hear it is clogged with new
clauses ; and one is, that the Pope, who allegeth
that the only aim of the Apostolical See in grant-
ing this dispensation was the advantage and ease
of the Catholics in the King of Great Britain's do-
minions, therefore he desired a valuable caution for
the performance of those articles which were stipu-
lated in their favour. This hath much puzzled the
business, and Sir Francis Cottington comes now
over about it. Besides there is some distaste taken
at the Duke of Buckingham here, and I heard this
King should say he will treat no more with him

OF JAMES HOWELL 229

but with the ambassadors, who, he saith, have
a more plenary commission, and understand the
business better. As there is some darkness hap-
pened betwixt the two favourites, so matters stand
not right betwixt the Duke and the Earl of
Bristol ; but God forbid that a business of so high
a consequence as this, which is likely to tend so
much to the universal good of Christendom, to the
restitution of the Palatinate, and the composing
those broils in Germany, should be ranversed by
differences betwixt a few private subjects, though
now public ministers.

Mr Washington, the Prince's page, is lately dead
of a calenture; and I was at his burial under a fig-
tree behind my Lord of Bristol's house. A little
before his death one Ballard, an English priest,
went to tamper with him, and Sir Edmund Varney,
meeting him coming down the stairs out of Wash-
ington's chamber, they fell from words to blows ;
but they were parted. The business was like to
gather very ill blood and come to a great height
had not Count Gondomar quashed it, which I be-
lieve he could not have done unless the times had
been favourable; for such is the reverence they
bear to the Church here, and so holy a conceit they
have of all ecclesiastics, that the greatest don in
Spain will tremble to offer the meanest of them any
outrage or affront. Count Gondomar hath also
helped to free some English that were in the
Inquisition in Toledo and Seville, and I could
allege many instances how ready and cheerful he is

230 FAMILIAR LETTERS

to assist any Englishman whatsoever, notwithstand-
ing the base affronts he hath often received of the
London boys as he calls them. At his last return
hither, I heard of a merry saying of his to the
Queen, who discoursing with him about the great-
ness of London, and whether it was as populous as
Madrid : "Yes, madam, and more populous when
I came away, though I believe there is scarce a
man left there now, but all women and children ;
for all the men both in court and city were ready
booted and spurred to go away." And I am sorry
to hear how other nations do much tax the English
of their incivility to public ministers of state, and
what ballads and pasquils, and fopperies and plays
were made against Gondomar for doing his master's
business. My Lord of Bristol coming from Ger-
many to Brussels, notwithstanding that at his arrival
thither the news was fresh that he had relieved
Frankindale as he passed, yet was he not a whit
the less welcome, but valued the more both by the
archduchess herself and Spinola, with all the rest;
as also that they knew well that the said earl had
been the sole adviser of keeping Sir Robert
Mansell abroad with that fleet upon the coast of
Spain till the Palsgrave should be restored. I pray,
sir, when you go to London Wall and Tower
Hill, be pleased to remember my humble service,
where you know it is due. — So I am, your most
faithful servitor, J. H.

Madrid, August 15, 1623.

OF JAMES HOWELL 231

XXI

To the right honourable the Lord Viscount

Colchester

My very good Lord,

I RECEIVED the letter and commands your
lordship pleased to send me by Mr Walsing-
ham Gresley, and touching the constitutions and
orders of the contratation house of the West
Indies in Seville, I cannot procure it for love or
money upon any terms, though I have done all
possible diligence therein. And some tell me it is
dangerous, and no less than treason in him that
gives the copy of them to any, in regard it is
counted the greatest mystery of all the Spanish
government.

That difficulty which happened in the business
of the match of giving caution to the Pope is now
overcome; for whereas our King answered that he
could give no other caution than his royal word
and his son's exemplified under the great seal of
England, and confirmed by his Council of State,
it being impossible to have it done by Parliament,
in regard of the averseness the common people
have to the alliance; and whereas this gave no
satisfaction to Rome, the King of Spain now offers
himself for caution, for putting in execution what
is stipulated in behalf of the Roman Catholics
throughout His Majesty of Great Britain's domin-

232 FAMILIAR LETTERS

ions ; but he desires to consult his ghostly fathers
to know whether he may do it without wronging
his conscience ; hereupon there hath been a junta
formed of bishops and Jesuits, who have been
already a good while about it, and the Bishop of
Segovia, who is, as it were, lord treasurer, having
written a treatise lately against the match, was
ousted of his office, banished the court, and con-
fined to his diocesci The Duke of Buckingham
hath been ill disposed a good- while, and lies sick
at court, where the Prince hath no public exercise
of devotion, but only bedchamber prayers, and
some think that his lodging in the King's house
is like to prove a disadvantage to the main busi-
ness ; for whereas most sorts of people here hardly
hold us to be Christians, if the Prince had had
a palace of his own, and been permitted to have
used a room for an open chapel to exercise the
liturgy of the Church of England, it would have
brought them to have a better opinion of us ; and
to this end there were some of our best church
plate and vestments brought hither but never
used. The slow pace of this Junta troubles us a
little, and to the divines there are some civilians
admitted lately, and the quaere is this, whether
the King of Spain may bind himself by oath
in the behalf of the King of England, to per-
form such and such articles that are agreed on
in favour of the Roman Catholics by virtue of
this match, whether the King may do this salva
conscientiai

OF JAMES HOWELL 233

There was a great show lately here of baiting
of bulls with men for the entertainment of .the
Prince. It is the chiefest of all Spanish sports ;
commonly there are men killed at it, therefore
there are priests appointed to be there ready to
confess them. It hath happened oftentimes that
a bull hath taken up two men upon his horns
with their guts dangling about them ; the horse-
men run with lances and swords, the foot with
goads. As I am told the Pope hath sent divers
Bulls against this sport of bulling, yet it will not
be left, the nation hath taken such an habitual
delight in it. There was an ill-favoured accident
like to have happened lately at the King's house,
in that part where my Lord of Carlisle and my
Lord Denbigh were lodged ; for my Lord Den-
bigh, late at night taking a pipe of tobacco in
a balcony which hung over the King's garden, he
blew down the ashes, which falling upon some
parched combustible matter began to flame and
spread, but Master Davis, my Lord of Carlisle's
barber, leaped down a great height and quenched
it. So with continuance of my most humble
service, I rest ever ready, at your lordship's
commands, J. H.

Madrid, August 16, 1623.

/'

234 FAMILIAR LETTERS

XXII
To Sir James Crofts y from Madrid

THE Court of Spain afFords now little news ;
for there is a remora sticks to the business
of the match, till the Junta of divines give up
their opinion. But from Turkey there came a
letter this week wherein there is the strangest and
most tragical news, that in my small reading no
story can parallel, or show with more pregnancy
the instability and tottering estate of human great-
ness, and the sandy foundation whereon the vast
Ottoman Empire is reared upon, for Sultan Osman,
the grand Turk, a man according to the humour
of that nation, warlike and fleshed in blood and
a violent hater of Christians, was, in the flower of
his years, in the heat and height of. his courage,
knocked in the head by one of his own slaves,
and one of the meanest of them, with a battle-axe,
and the murderer never after proceeded against or
questioned.

The ground of this tragedy was the late ill-suc-
cess he had against the Pole, wherein he lost about
100,000 horse for want of forage, and 80,000 men
for want of fighting, which he imputed to the
cowardice of- his janizaries, who rather than bear
the brunt of the battle, were more willing to re-
turn home to their wives and merchandising,
which they are now permitted to do contrary to

OF JAMES HOWELL 235

their first institution, which makes them more
worldly and less venturous. This disgraceful re-
turn from Poland stuck in Osman's stomach, and
so he studied a way how to be revenged of the
janizaries. Therefore, by the advice of his grand
vizier (a stout gallant man who had been one of
the chief Beglerbegs in the East), he intended to
erect a new soldiery in Asia about Damascus, of
the Kurds, a frontier people, and consequently
hardy and inured to arms. Of these he purposed
to entertain 40,000 as a lifeguard for his person,
though the main design was to suppress his lazy
and lustful janizaries with men of fresh new
spirits.

To disguise this plot he pretended a pilgrimage
to Mecca, to visit Mahomet's tomb, and reconcile
himself to the prophet, who he thought was angry
with him because of his late ill-success in Poland.
But this colour was not specious enough in regard
he might have performed this pilgrimage with a
smaller train and charge. Therefore it was pro-
pounded that the Emir of Sidon should be made
to rise up in arms, that so he might go with a
greater power and treasure. But this plot was held
disadvantageous to him in regard his janizaries
must then have attended him. So he pretends and
prepares only for the pilgrimage, yet he makes
ready as much treasure as he could make, and to
that end he melts his plate, and furniture of horses,
with divers church lamps. This fomented some
jealousy in the janizaries, with certain words which

236 FAMILIAR LETTERS

should drop from him, that he would find soldiers
shortly should whip them. Hereupon he hath
sent over to Asia's side his pavilions, many of his
servants, with his jewels and treasure, resolving
upon the voyage, notwithstanding that divers
petitions were delivered him from the clergy, the
civil magistrate and the soldiery that he should
desist from the voyage ; but all would not do.
Thereupon, upon the point of his departure, the
janizaries and spahies came in a tumultuary manner
to the seraglio, and in a high insolent language
dissuaded him from the pilgrimage, and demanded
of him his ill counsellors. The first he granted,
but for the second he said that it stood not with
his honour to have his nearest servants torn from
him so without any legal proceeding, but he
assured them that they should appear in the divan
the next day to answer for themselves ; but this
not satisfying they went away in a fury and plun-
dered the grand vizier's palace with divers others.
Osman hereupon was advised to go from his pri-
vate gardens that night to the Asian shore, but
his destiny kept him from it. So the next morn-
ing they came armed to the Court (but having
made a covenant not to violate the imperial throne)
and cut in pieces the grand vizier with divers
other great officers, and not finding Osman, who
had hid himself in a small lodge in one of his
gardens, they cried out they must have a Mussul-
man Emperor. Therefore they broke into a dun-
geon and brought out Mustapha, Osman's uncle.

OF JAMES HOWELL 237

whom he had clapt there at the beginning of the
tumult, and who had been king before, but was
deposed for his simplicity, being a kind of santon
or holy man, that is, betwixt an innocent and an
idiot. This Mustapha they did reinthronise and
place in the Ottoman Empire.

The next day they found out Osman, and
brought him before Mustapha, who excused him-
self with tears in his eyes for his rash attempts,
which wrought tenderness in some, but more
scorn and fury in others, who fell upon the capi
agay with other officers, and • cut them in pieces
before his eyes. Osman thence was carried to
prison, and as he was getting on horseback a com-
mon soldier took off his turban and clapt his
upon Osman's head, who in his passage begged a
draught of water at a fountain. The next day the
new vizier went with an executioner to strangle
him in regard there were two younger brothers
more of his to preserve the Ottoman's race, where,
after they had rushed in, he being newly awaked
and staring upon them, and thinking to defend
himself, a robust boisterous rogue knocked him
down, and so the rest fell upon him and strangled
him with much ado.

Thus fell one of the greatest potentates upon
earth by the hands of a contemptible slave, for
there is not a free-born subject in all that vast
empire. Thus fell he that entitles himself most
puissant and highest monarch of the Turks, king
above all kings, a king that dwelleth upon the

238 FAMILIAR LETTERS

earthly paradise, son of Mahomet, keeper of the
grave of the Christian God, Lord of the Tree of
Life and of the river Flisky, prior of the Earthly
Paradise, conqueror of the Macedonians, the seed
of great Alexander, Prince of the kingdoms of
Tartary, Mesopotamia, Media and of the Martial
Mammalucks, Anatolia, Bithynia, Asia, Arme-
nia, Servia, Thracia, Morea, Valachia, Moldavia,
and of all warlike Hungary, Sovereign Lord and
Commander of all Greece, Persia, both the Arabias,
the most noble kingdom of Egypt, Tremisen and
African, Emperor of Trebisond and the most glori-
ous Constantinople, lord of all the White and
Black Seas, of the holy cities Mecca and Medina,
shining with divine glory, commander of all things
that are to be commanded, and the strongest and
mightiest champion of the wide world, a warrior
appointed by heaven in the edge of the sword,
a persecutor of his enemies, a most perfect jewel
of the blessed tree, the chiefest keeper of the cruci-
fied God, etc., with other such bombastical
titles.

This Osman was a man of goodly constitution,
an amiable aspect, and of excess of courage, but
sordidly covetpus, which drove him to violate the
church and to melt the lamps thereof, which made
the Mufti say that this was a due judgment fallen
upon him from heaven for his sacrilege. He used
also to make his person too cheap, for he would
go ordinarily in the night time with two men after
him like a petty constable and peep into the cauph-

OF JAMES HOWELL 239

houses and cabarets and apprehend soldiers there.
And these two things it seems was the cause, that
when he was so assaulted in the Seraglio, not one
of his domestic servants, whereof he had 3000,
would lift an arm to help him.

Some few days before his death he had a strange
dream, for he dreamt that he was mounted upon
a great camel, who would not go neither by fair nor
foul means, and alighting off him and thinking to
strike him with his scimitar, the body of the beast
vanished, leaving the head and the bridle only in
his hands. When the Mufti and the Hoggies
could not interpret this dream, Mustapha, his
uncle, did it, for he said the camel signified his
empire, his mounting of him his excess in govern-
ment, his alighting down his deposing. Another
kind of prophetic speech dropped from the grand
vizier to Sir Thomas Roe, our ambassador there,
who having gone a little before this tragedy to
visit the said vizier, told him what whisperings
and mutterings there were in every corner for this
Asiatic voyage, and what ill consequences might
ensue from it, therefore it might well stand with
his great wisdom to stay it ; but if it held he de-
sired him to leave a charge with the Chimacham,
his deputy, that the English nation in the port
should be free from outrages, whereunto the grand
vizier answered, " Trouble not yourself about that,
for I will not remove so far from Constantinople,
but I will leave one of my legs behind to serve
you," which proved too true, for he was. murdered

240 FAMILIAR LETTERS

afterwards and one of his legs was hung up in the
hippodrome.

This fresh tragedy makes me to give over won-
dering at anything that ever I heard or read, to.
show the lubricity of mundane greatness, as also
the fury of the vulgar, which, like an impetuous
torrent, gathereth strength by degrees as it meets
with divers dams, and being come to the height,
cannot stop itself; for when this rage of the soldiers
began first there was no design at all to violate or
hurt the Emperor, but to take from him his ill
counsellors ; but being once afoot, it grew by
insensible degrees to the utmost of outrages.

The bringing out of Mustapha from the dun-
geon, where he was prisoner, to be Emperor of the
Musulmans, puts me in mind of what I read in
Mr Camden of our late Queen Elizabeth, how
she was brought from the scaffold to the English
throne.

They who profess to be critics in policy here
hope that this murdering of Osman may in time
breed good blood, and prove advantageous to
Christendom, for though this be the first emperor
of the Turks that was dispatched so, he is not like
to be the last, now that the soldiers have this pre-
cedent. Others think that if that design in Asia
had taken, it had been very probable the Con-
stantinopolians had hoisted up another king, and
so the empire had been dismembered, and by
this division had lost strength, as the Roman Em-
pire did, when it was broken into east and west.

OF JAMES HOWELL 241

Excuse me that this my letter is become such
a monster. I mean that it hath passed the size
and ordinary proportions of a letter, for the matter
it treats of is monstrous ; besides, it is a rule that
"historical letters have more liberty to be long than
others. In my next you shall hear how matters
pass here. And in the meantime and always, I rest
your lordship's most devoted servitor,

J. H.

Madrid, August 17, 1623.

XXIII

To the Right Honourable Sir Tho. Savage^

Knight and Baronet

Honourable Sir,

THE procedure of things in relation to the
grand business of the match was at a kind of
stand when the long-winded Junta delivered their
opinions and fell at last upon this result, that
His Catholic Majesty, for the satisfaction of
Saint Peter, might oblige himself in the behalf of
England, for the performance of those capitulations
which reflected upon the Roman Catholics in that
kingdom ; and in case of non-performance, then
to right himself by war; since that, the matri-
monial articles were solemnly sworn unto by the
King of Spain and His Highness, the two favour-
ites, our two ambassadors, the Duke of Infantado
and other counsellors of state being present ; here-

242 FAMILIAR LETTERS

upon the eighth of the next September is appointed
to be the day of Desposorios, the day of affiance,
or the betrothing day. There was much gladness
expressed here, and luminaries of joy were in every
great street throughout the city. But there is an
unlucky accident hath intervened, for the King
gave the Prince a solemn visit since, and told him
Pope Gregory was dead, who was so great a friend
to the match, but in regard the business was not
yet come to perfection, he could not proceed
further in it till the former dispensation were rati-
fied by the new Pope Urban, which to procure he
would make it his own task, and that all possible
expedition should be used in it, and therefore
desired his patience in the interim. The Prince
answered, and pressed the necessity of his speedy
return with divers reasons. He said there was a
general kind of murmuring in England for his so
long absence, that the King his father was old and
sickly, that the fleet of ships were all ready, he
thought, at sea, to fetch him, the winter drew on,
and withal that the articles of the match were
signed in England, with this proviso, that if he be
not come back by such a month, they should be of
no validity. The King replied that, since His High-
ness was resolved upon so sudden a departure, he
would please to leave a proxy behind to finish the
marriage, and he would take it for a favour if he
would depute him to personate him, and ten days
after the ratification shall come from Rome the
business shall be done, and afterwards he might

OF JAMES HOWELL 243

send for his wife when he pleased. The Prince
rejoined that amongst those multitudes of royal
favours which he had received from His Majesty,
this transcended all the rest, therefore he would
willingly leave a proxy for His Majesty and an-
other for Don Carlos to this effect. So they parted
for that time without the least umbrage of discon-
tent, nor do I hear of any engendered since. The
last month, it is true, the Junta of divines dwelt so
long upon the business that there were whisperings
that the Prince intended to go away disguised as
he came, and the question being asked by a person
of quality, there was a brave answer made, that if
love brought him hither, it is not fear shall drive
him away.

There are preparations already on foot for his
return, and the two proxies are drawn and left in
my Lord of Bristol s hands. Notwithstanding
this ill-favoured stop, yet we are here all confident
the business will take effect. In which hopes I
rest your most humble and ready servitor,

J. H.

Madrid, 18 August 1623.

XXIV
To Captain Nich. Leat at his House in London

THIS letter comes to you by Mr Richard
Altham, of whose sudden departure hence
I am very sorry, it being the late death of his

244 FAMILIAR LETTERS

brother Sir James Altham. I have been at a stand
in the business a good while, for His Highness
coming hither was no advantage to me in the earth.
He hath done the Spaniards divers courtesies, but
he hath been very sparing in doing the English
any. It may be perhaps because it may be a dim-
inution of honour to be beholding to any foreign
prince to do his own subjects favours, but my
business requires no favour — all I desire is justice,
which I have not obtained yet in reality.

The Prince is preparing for his journey. I shall
to it again closely when he is gone, and make
a shaft or a bolt of it. The Pope's death hath
retarded the proceedings of the match, but we are
so far from despairing of it that one may have
wagers thirty to one it will take effect still. He
that deals with this nation must have a great deal
of phlegm, and if this grand business of state, the
match, suffer such protractions and puttings off,
you need not wonder that private negotiations, as
mine is, should be subject to the same inconven-
iences. There shall be no means left unattempted
that my best industry can find out to put a period
to it, and when His Highness is gone I hope to
find my Lord of Bristol more at leisure to con-
tinue his favour and furtherance, which hath been
much already. — So I rest yours ready to serve
you, J. H.

Madrid, August 19, 161^.

OF JAMES HOWELL 245

XXV

To Sir "James Crofts

THE Prince is now upon his journey to the
seaside, where my Lord of Rutland attends
for him with a royal fleet. There are many here
shrink in their shoulders, and are very sensible
of his departure, and the Lady Infanta resents
it more than any. She hath caused a Mass to
be sung every day ever since for his good voyage.
The Spaniards themselves confess there was never
princess so bravely wooed. The King and his two
brothers accompanied His Highness to the Escu-
rial some twenty miles oflF, and would have brought
him to the seaside, but that the Queen is big and
hath not many days to go. When the King and
he parted, there passed wonderful great endear-
ments and embraces in divers postures between
them a long time ; and in that place there is a
pillar to be erected as a monument to posterity.
There are some grandees, and Count Gondomar,
with a great train besides, gone with him to the
marine, to the seaside, which will be many days'
journey, and must needs put the King of Spain
to a mighty expense, besides his seven months*
entertainment here. We hear that when he passed
through Valladolid, the Duke of Lerma was retired
thence for the time by special command from the
King, lest he might have discourse with the Prince,

246 FAMILIAR LETTERS

whom he extremely desired to see. This sunk
deep into the old duke, insomuch that he said,
that of all the acts of malice which Olivares had
ever done him, he resented this more than any.
He bears up yet very well under his cardinal's
habit, which hath kept him from many a foul
storm that might have fallen upon him else from
the temporal power. The Duke of Uzeda, his
son, finding himself decline in favour at court, had
retired to the country, and died soon after of dis-
contentment. During his sickness the cardinal
wrote this short weighty letter unto him : " Dizen
me, que mareys de necio; por mi, mas temo mis
aiios que mis enemigos. — Lerma." I shall not
need to English it to you, who is so great a master
of the language. Since I began this letter, we under-
stand the Prince is safely embarked, but not with-
out some danger of being cast away, had not Sir
Sackville Trevor taken him up. I pray God send
him a good voyage, and us no ill news from Eng-
land. My most humble service at Tower Hill.
So I am your humble servitor,

J. H.

Madrid, August 21, 1623.

OF JAMES HOWELL 247

XXVI

To my Brother J Dr Howell

My Brother,

SINCE our Prince's departure hence, the Lady
Infanta studieth English apace, and one Mr
Wadsworth and Father Boniface, two Englishmen,
are appointed her teachers, and have access to her
every day. We account her, as it were, our Prin-
cess now, and as we give, so she takes that title.
Our ambassadors, my Lord of Bristol and Sir
Walter Ashton, will not stand now covered before
her when they have audience, because they hold
her to be their Princess. She is preparing divers
suits of rich clothes for His Highness of perfumed
amber leather, some embroidered with pearl, some
with gold, some with silver ! Her family is a-set-
tling apace, and most of her ladies and officers are
known already. We want nothing now but one
dispatch more from Rome, and then the marriage
will be solemnised, and all things consummated.
Yet there is one Mr Clerk (with the lame arm)
that came hither from the seaside, as soon as the
Prince was gone ; he is one of the Duke of Buck-
ingham's creatures, yet he lies at the Earl of Bris-
tol's house, which we wonder at, considering the
darkness that happened betwixt the duke and the
earl. We fear that this Clerk hath brought some-
thing that may puzzle the business. Besides

248 FAMILIAR LETTERS

having occasion to make my address lately to the
Venetian ambassador, who is interested in some
part of that great business for which I am here, he
told me confidently it would be no match, nor did
he think it was ever intended. But I want faith
to believe him yet, for I know St Mark is no
friend to it, nor France, nor any other prince or
state, besides the King of Denmark, whose grand-
mother was of the house of Austria, being sister
to Charles the Emperor. Touching the business
of the Palatinate, our ambassadors were lately
assured by Olivares and all the counsellors here,
and that in this King's name, that he would pro-
cure His Majesty of Great Britain entire satis-
faction herein ; and Olivares, giving them the joy,
entreated them to assure their King upon their
honour, and upon their lives, of the reality hereof.
For the Infanta herself (saith he) hath stirred in
it, and makes it now her own business; for it
was a firm peace and amity (which he confessed
could never be without the accommodation of
things in Germany) as much as an alliance,
which His Catholic Majesty aimed at. But we
shall know shortly now what to trust to, we shall
walk no more in mists, though some give out
yet that our Prince shall embrace a cloud for Juno

at last.
I pray present my service to Sir John Franklin

and Sir John Smith, with all at the Hill and Dale,

and when you send to Wales, I pray convey the

enclosed to my father. So, my dear brother, I pray

OF JAMES HOWELL 249

God bless us both, and bring us again joyfully
together. — Your very loving brother, J. H.
Madrid, August 12, 1623.

XXVII
To my noble friend^ Sir John North, Knight

I RECEIVED lately one of yours, but it was of
a very old date. We have our eyes here now
all fixed upon Rome, greedily expecting the ratifi-
cation, and lately a strong rumour ran it was come.
In so much that Mr Clerk, who was sent hither
from the Prince, being a shipboard (and now lies
sick at my Lord of Bristol's house of a calenture),
hearing of it, he desired to speak with him, for he
had something to deliver him from the Prince. My
Lord Ambassador being come to him, Mr Clerk
delivered a letter from the Prince, the contents
whereof were : That whereas he had left certain
proxies in his hand to be delivered to the King
of Spain after the ratification was come, he desired
and required him not to do it till he should receive
further order from England. My Lord of Bristol
hereupon went to Sir Walter Aston, who was in
joint commission with him for concluding the
match, and showing him the letter, what my Lord
Aston said I know not, but my Lord of Bristol
told him that they had a commission royal under
the broad seal of England to conclude the match.
He knew as well as he how earnest the King their

#

aso FAMILIAR LETTERS

master hath been any time this ten years to have it
done. How there could not be a better pawn for the
surrendry of the Palatinate than the Infanta in the
Prince his arms, who could never rest till she did
the work to merit love of our nation. He told
him also how their own particular fortunes de-
pended upon it ; besides, if he should delay one
moment to deliver the proxy after the ratification
was come, according to agreement, the Infanta
would hold herself so blemished in her honour
that it might overthrow all things. Lastly, he told
him that they incurred the hazard of their heads
if they should suspend the executing His Majes-
ty's commission upon any order but from that
power which gave it, who was the King himself.
Hereupon both the ambassadors proceeded still
in preparing matters for the solemnising of the
marriage. The Earl of Bristol had caused above
thirty rich liveries to be made of watchet velvet,
with silver lace up to the very capes of the cloaks ;
the best sorts whereof were valued at ;^8o a livery.
My Lord Aston had also provided new liveries,
and a fortnight after the said politic report was
blown up the ratification came indeed complete
and full. So the marriage day was appointed, a
terrace covered all over with tapestry was raised
from the King's palace to the next church, which
might be about the same extent as from Whitehall
to Westminster Abbey, and the King intended to
make his sister a wife and his daughter (whereof
the Queen was delivered a little before) a Christian

OF JAMES HOWELL 251

upon the same day. The grandees and great ladies
had been invited to the marriage, and order was
sent to all the port towns to discharge their great
ordnance, and sundry other things were prepared
to honour the solemnity; but when we were thus
at the height of our hopes, a day or two before,
there came Mr Killegree, Gresly, Wood and
Davies, one upon the neck of another with a new
commission to my Lord of Bristol immediately
from His Majesty, countermanding him to deliver
the proxy aforesaid, until a full and absolute satis-
faction were had for the surrender of the Palatinate
under this King's hand and seal. In regard he
desired his son should be married to Spain, and
his son-in-law remarried to the Palatinate at one
time. Hereupon all was dashed in pieces, and that
frame which was rearing so many years was ruined
in a moment. This news struck a damp in the
hearts of all people here, and they wished that
the postillions that brought it had all broke their
necks on the way.

My Lord of Bristol hereupon went to court to
Acquaint the King with his new commission, and so
proposed the restitution of the Palatinate. The
King answered it was none of his to give. It is
true he had a few towns there, but he held them as
commissioner only for the Emperor, and he could
not command an Emperor ; yet if His Majesty of
Great Britain would put a treaty a foot, he would
send his own ambassadors to join. In the interim
the earl was commanded not to deliver the afore-

252 FAMILIAR LETTERS

said proxy of the Prince for the disponsories or
espousal until Christmas (and herein it seems His
Majesty with you was not well informed, for those
powers of proxies expired before). The King here
said further that if his uncle the Emperor, or the
Duke of Bavaria, would not be conformable to
reason he would raise as great an army for the
Prince Palsgrave as he did under Spinola when he
first invaded the Palatinate ; and to secure this he
would engage his contratation house of the West
Indies, with his Plate fleet, and give the most bind-
ing instrument that could be under his hand and
seal. But this gave no satisfaction, therefore my
Lord of Bristol, I believe, hath not long to stay
here, for he is commanded to deliver no more let-
ters to the Infanta nor demand any more audience,
and that she should be no more styled Princess
of England or Wales. The foresaid caution which
this King off^ered to my Lord of Bristol made me
think of what I read of his grandfather Philip the
Second, who having been married to our Queen
Mary, and it being thought she was with child
of him, and was accordingly prayed for at Paul's
Cross, though it proved afterwards but a tympany,
King Philip proposed to our Parliament that they
would pass an act that he might be regent during
his or her minority that should be born, and he
would give good caution to surrender the crown,
when he or she should come to age ; the motion
was hotly can vassed in the House of Peers, and like
to pass, when the Lord Paget rose up and said.

OF JAMES HOWELL 253

" Aye, but who shall sue the King's bond," so the
business was dashed. I have no more news to send
you now, and I am sorry I have so much, unless
it were better ; for we that have business to nego-
tiate here are like to suffer much by this rupture.
Welcome be the will of God, to whose benedic-
tion I commend you, and rest, your most humble
servitor, J. H.

Madrid, August 25, 161^.

XXVIII

To the Right Honourable the Lord Clifford

My good Lord,

THOUGH this court cannot afford now such
comfortable news in relation to England as
I could wish, yet such as it is you shall receive.
My Lord of Bristol is preparing for England. I
waited upon him lately when he went to take his
leave at court, and the King washing his hands took
a ring from off his finger and put it upon his,
which was the greatest honour that ever he did any
am bassador, as they say here; he gave him also
a cupboard of plate, valued at 20,000 crowns.
There were also large and high promises made him,
that in case he feared to fall upon any rock in Eng-
land, by reason of the power of those who ma-
ligned him, if he would stay in any of his domin-
ions, he would give him means and honour equal

254 FAMILIAR LETTERS

r

to the highest of his enemies. The earl did not
only waive but disdained these propositions made
unto him by Olivares, and said he was so confident
of the King, his master's justice and high judg-
ment, and of his own innocency, that he conceived
no power could be able to do him hurt. There hath
occurred nothing lately in this court worth the
advertisement. They speak much of the strange
carriage of that boisterous Bishop of Halverstadt
(for so they term him here), that having taken
a place where there were two monasteries of nuns
and friars, he caused divers feather-beds to be
ripped and all the feathers to be thrown in a great
hall, whither the nuns and friars were thrust naked
with their bodies oiled and pitched, and to tumble
among these feathers, which makes them here
presage him an ill death. So I most affectionately
kiss your hands, and rest, your very humble
servitor, J. H.

Madrid, August 26, 1623.

XXIX

To Sir John North

I HAVE many thanks to render you for the favour
you lately did to a kinsman of mine, Mr
Vaughan, and for divers other which I defer till
I return to that court, and that I hope will not be
long. Touching the procedure of matters here,
you shall understand, that my Lord Aston had

OF JAMES HOWELL 255

special, audience lately of the King of Spain, and
afterwards presented a memorial wherein there was
a high complaint against the miscarriage of the
two Spanish ambassadors now in England, the
Marquis of Inojosa and Don Carlos Coloma. The
substance of it was, that the said ambassadors in a
private audience His Majesty of Great Britain had
given them, informed him of a pernicious plot
against his person and royal authority, which was,
that at the beginning of your now parliament, the
Duke of Buckingham, with other his accomplices,
often met and consulted in a clandestine way how
to break the treaty both of match and Palatinate.
And in case His Majesty was unwilling thereunto,
he should have a country house or two to retire
unto for his recreation and health, in regard the
Prince is now of years and judgment fit to govern.
His Majesty so resented this, that the next day he
sent them many thanks for the care they had of
him, and desired them to perfect the work, and
now that they had detected the treason, to discover
also the traitors ; but they were shy in that point.
The King sent again, desiring them to send him
the names of the conspirators in a paper, sealed up
by one of their own confidants, which he would
receive with his own hands, and no soul should see
it else ; advising them withal, that they should not
prefer this discovery before their own honours, to
be accounted false accusers. They replied that they
had done enough already by instancing in the
Duke of Buckingham, and it might easily be guessed

256 FAMILIAR LETTERS

who were his confidants and creatures. Hereupon
His Majesty put those whom he had any grounds
to suspect to their oaths ; and afterward sent my
Lord Conway and Sir Francis Cotdngton to tell the
ambassadors that he had left no means unassayed
to discover the conspiration, that he had found
upon oath such a clearness of ingenuity in the
Duke of Buckingham that satisfied him of his in-
nocency. Therefore he had just cause to conceive
that this information of theirs proceeded rather
from malice and some political ends than from
truth, and in regard they would not produce the
authors of so dangerous a treason, they made
themselves to be justly thought the authors of it.
And therefore though he might by his own royal
justice and the law of nations punish this excess
and insolence of theirs, and high wrongs they had
done to his best servants, yea, to the Prince his son,
for through the sides of the duke they wounded
him, in regard it was impossible that such a de-
sign should be attempted without his privity ; yet
he would not be his own judge herein, but would
refer them to the King their master, whom he con-
ceived to be so just, that he doubted not but he
would see him satisfied, and therefore he would
send an express unto him hereabouts to demand
justice and reparation. This business is now in
agitation, but we know not what will become of it.
We are all here in a sad disconsolate condition,
and the merchants shake their heads up and down
out of an apprehension of some fearful war to

OF JAMES HOWELL 257

follow. — So I most affectionately kiss your hands,
and rest your very humble and ready servitor,

J. H.

Madrid, August 26, 1623.

XXX

To Sir Kenelme Digby, Knight

YOU have had knowledge (none better) of the
progression and growings of the Spanish
match from time to time. I must acquaint you now
with the rupture and utter dissolution of it, which
was not long a-doing, for it was done in one audi-
ence that my Lord of Bristol had lately at court,
whence it may be inferred that it is far more easy
to pull down than rear up, for that structure which
was so many years a-rearing was dashed as it were
in a trice. Dissolution goeth a faster pace than
composition. And it may be said that the civil
actions of men, specially great affairs of monarchs
(as this was) have much analogy in degrees of pro-
gression with the natural production of man. To
make man there are many acts must proceed : first
a meeting and copulation of the sexes, then con-
ception, which requires a well disposed womb to
retain the prolifical seed, by the constriction and
occlusion of the orifice of the matrix, which seed
being first, and afterwards cream, is by a gentle
ebullition coagulated, and turned to a cruded lump,
which the womb by virtue of its natural heat pre-

258 FAMILIAR LETTERS

pares to be capable to receive form and to be organ-
ised, whereupon Nature falls a-working to delineate
all the members, beginning with those that are
most noble, as the heart, the brain, the liver, where-
of Galen would have the liver, which is the shop
and source of the blood, and Aristotle the heart,
to be the first framed, in regard it is primum vivens
et ultimum moriens. Nature continues in this labour
until a perfect shape be introduced, and this is
called formation, which is the third act, and is a
production of an organical body out of the sperm-
atic substance, caused by the plastic virtue of the
vital spirits. And sometimes this act is finished
thirty days after the conception, sometimes fifty,
but most commonly in forty-two or forty-five,
and is sooner done in the male. This being done,
the embryon is animated with three souls : the first
with that of plants, called the vegetable soul, then
with a sensitive, which all brute animals have, and
lastly, the rational soul is infused, and these three
in man are like trigonus in tetragono. The two first
are generated ex traduccy from the seed of the par-
ents, but the last is by immediate infusion from
God, and it is controverted betwixt philosophers
and divines when this infusion is made.

This is the fourth act that goeth to make a man,
and is called animation ; and as the naturalists allow
animation double the time that formation had from
the conception, so they allow to the ripening of
the embryo in the womb, and to the birth thereof,
treble the time that animation had, which happen-

OF JAMES HOWELL 259

eth sometimes in nine, sometimes in ten months.
This grand business of the Spanish match may be
said to have had such degrees of progression.
First there was a meeting and coupling on both
sides, for a Junta in Spain and some select coun-
sellors of state were appointed in England. After
this conjunction the business was conceived, then
it received form, then life (though the quickening
was slow); but having had near upon ten years
in lieu of ten months to be perfected, it was unfor-
tunately strangled when it was ripe ready for birth ;
and I would they had never been born that did
it, for it is like to be out of my way ^3000. And
as the embryo in the womb is wrapped in three
membranes or tunicles, so this great business, you
know better than I, was involved in many diffi-
culties, and died so entangled before it could
break through them.

There is a buzz here of a match betwixt Eng-
land and France; I pray God send it a speedier
formation and animation than this had, and that
it may not prove an abortive.

I send you herewith a letter from the paragon
of the Spanish court. Donna Anna Maria Man-
rique, the Duke of Marqueda's sister, who respects
you in a high degree. She told me this was the
first letter she ever wrote to man in her life, except
the duke her brother. She was much solicited
to write to Mr Thomas Gary, but she would not.
I did also your message to the Marquesa Inojosa,
who put me to sit a good while with her upon

26o FAMILIAR LETTERS

her estrado, which was no simple favour. You are
much in both these ladies' books, and much
spoken of by divers others in this court. I could
not recover your diamond hatband which the pica-
roon snatched from you in the coach, though I
used all means possible, as far as book, bell and
candle in point of excommunication against the
party in all the churches of Madrid, by which
means you know divers things are recovered. — So
I most affectionately kiss your hands, and rest
your most faithful servitor, J. H.

P. S. — Yours of the 2nd of March came to
safe hand.

Madrid.

XXXI

To my Cousin, Mr J. Price [now Knight), at
the Middle Temple ; from Madrid

COUSIN, suffer my letter to salute you first
in this distitch:

A Thames! Tagus quot leucis flumine distat^
Oscula tot manibus porta, pricaee, tuis.

As many miles Thames lies fi'om Tagus strands,
I bring so many kisses to thy hands*

My dear Jack,

IN the large register or almanac of my friends in
England, you are one of the chiefest red letters,
you are one of my festival rubrics, for whensoever

OF JAMES HOWELL 261

you fall upon my mind, or my mind falls upon
you, I keep holy-day all the while, and this hap-
pens so often, that you leave me but few working
days throughout the whole year, fewer far than this
country affords, for in their calendar above five
months of the twelve are dedicated to some saint
or other, and kept festival ; a religion that the
London apprentices would like well.

I thank you for yours of the third current, and
the ample relations you give me of London occur-
rences, but principally for the powerful and sweet
assurances you give me of your love, both in verse
and prose. All businesses here are off the hinges ;
for one late audience of my Lord of Bristol pulled
down what was so many years a-raising. And as
Thomas Aquinas told an artist of a costly curi-
ous statue in Rome, that by some accident, while
he was a-trimming it, fell down and so broke
to. pieces, " Opus triginta annorum destruxiti "
(Thou hast destroyed the work of thirty years).
So it may be said that a work near upon ten years
is now suddenly shattered to pieces. I hope by
God's grace to be now speedily in England, and
to re-enjoy your most dear society. In the mean-
time may all happiness attend you.

Ad literam.
Ocius ut gnindire gradus oratio possis,
Prosa, dbi binos jungimus ecce pedes.

That in thy journey thou mayest be more fleet.
To my dull prose I adde these metric feet.

26a FAMILIAR LETTERS

Resp.
Ad mare euro venio, quid agam ?

Repl.

Turn praepete penna

Te ferat^ est lator nam levis ignis^ Amor.

But when I come to sea how shall I shift ?
Let love transport thee then, for fire is swift.

— Your most affectionate cousin,

J. H.
March 30, 1624.

XXXII

To the Lord Viscount Colchester ; from Madrid

Right Honourable,

YOUR lordship's of the third current came to
safe hand, and being now upon the point of
parting with this court, I thought it worth the
labour to send your lordship a short survey of
the monarchy of Spain ; a bold undertaking your
lordship will say, to comprehend within the narrow
bounds of a letter such a huge bulk; but as in
the boss of a small diamond ring one may discern
the image of a mighty mountain, so I will en-
deavour that your lordship may behold the power
of this great King in this paper.

Spain hath been always esteemed a country of
ancient renown, and as it is incident to all others,
she hath had her vicissitudes and turns of fortune.

OF JAMES HOWELL 263

She hath been thrice overcome: by the Romans,
by the Goths, and by the Moors. The middle
conquest continueth to this day, for this King and
most of the nobility profess themselves to have
descended of the Goths. The Moors kept here
about seven hundred years, and it is a remarkable
story how they got in first, which was thus upon
good record. There reigned in Spain Don Rod-
rigo, who kept his court then at Malaga. He
. employed the Conde Don Julian, ambassador to
Barbary, who had a daughter (a young beautiful
lady) that was maid of honour to the Queen. The
King spying her one day refreshing herself under
an arbour, fell enamoured with her, and never left
till he had deflowered her. She resenting much
the dishonour wrote a letter to her father in Bar-
bary under this allegory: That there was a fair
green apple upon the table, and the King's poi-
gnard fell upon it and cleft it in two. Don Julian
apprehending the meaning, got letters of revoca-
tion, and came back to Spain, where he so com-
plied with the King, that he became his favourite.
Amongst other things he advised the King, that
in regard he was now in peace with all the world,
he would dismiss his galleys and garrisons that
were up and down the sea coasts, because it was
a superfluous charge. This being done, and the
country left open to any invader, he prevailed
with the King to have leave to go with his lady
to see their friends in Tarragona, which was 300
miles off. Having been there a while, his lady

264 FAMILIAR LETTERS

made semblance to be sick, and so sent to petition
the King, that her daughter. Donna Cava (whom
they had left at court to satiate the King's lust),
might come to comfort her a while. Cava came,
and the gate through which she went forth is
called after her name to this day in Malaga. Don
Julian having all his chief kindred there, he sailed
over to Barbary, and afterwards brought over the
King of Morocco and others with an army, who
suddenly invaded Spain, lying armless and open,
and so conquered it. Don Rodrigo died gallantly
in the field, but what became of Don Julian, who
for a particular revenge betrayed his own country,
no story makes mention. A few years before this
happened Rodrigo came to Toledo, where under
the great church there was a vault with huge iron
doors, and none of ^his predecessors durst open it,
because there was an old prophecy, that when
that vault was opened Spain should be conquered.
Rodrigo, slighting the prophecy, caused the doors
to be broke open, hoping to find there some treas-
ure ; but when he entered there was nothing found
but the pictures of Moors, of such men that a little
after fulfilled the prophecy.

Yet this last conquest of Spain was not perfect,
for divers parts north-west kept still under Chris-
tian kings, especially Biscay, which was never con-
quered, as Wales in Britanny ; and the Biscayners
have much analogy with the Welsh in divers
things: they retain to this day the original lan-
guage of Spain, they are the most mountainous

OF JAMES HOWELL 265

people, and they are reputed the ancientest gen-
try ; so that when any is to take the order of
knighthood, there are no inquisitors appointed to
find whether he be clear of the blood of the Moors
as in other places. The King, when he comes
upon the confines, pulls ofi^ one shoe before he
can tread upon any Biscay ground : and he hath
good reason to esteem that province, in regard of
divers advantages he hath by it ; for he hath his
best timber to build ships, his best marines, and
all his iron thence.

There were divers bloody battles *twixt the
remnant of Christians and the Moors for seven
hundred years together, and the Spaniards getting
ground more and more, drove them at last to
Granada, and thence also in the time of Ferdinand
and Isabella, quite over to Barbary. Their last
king was Chico, who when he fled from Granada
crying and weeping, the people upbraided him,
" That he might well weep like a woman, who
could not defend himself and them like a man "
(this was that Ferdinand who obtained from Rome
the title of Catholic, though some stories say that
many ages before Ricaredus, the first orthodox
king of the Goths, was styled Catholicus in a Pro-
vincial Synod held at Toledo, which was continued
by Alphonsus the First, and then made hereditary
by this Ferdinand). This absolute conquest of
the Moors happened about Henry the Seventh's
time, when the foresaid Ferdinand and Isabella
had by alliance joined Castile and Aragon, which

266 FAMILIAR LETTERS

with the discovery of the West Indies, which
happened a little after, was the first foundation of
that greatness whereunto Spain is now mounted.
Afterwards there was an alliance with Burgundy
and Austria. By the first House the seventeen
provinces fell to Spain ; by the second Charles
the Fifth came to be Emperor: and remarkable it
is how the House of Austria came to that height
from a mean earl, the Earl of Hapsburg in Ger-
many, who having been one day a-hunting, he
overtook a priest who had been with the Sacra-
ment to visit a poor, sick body ; the priest being
tired, the earl alighted off his horse, helped up
the priest, and so waited upon him afoot all the
while, till he brought him to the church: the
priest, giving him his benediction at his going
away, told him, that for this great act of humility
and piety, his race should be one of the greatest
that ever the world had ; and ever since, which is
some 240 years ago, the Empire hath continued
in that House, which afterwards was called the
House of Austria.

In Philip the Second's time the Spanish mon-
archy came to its highest pitch, by the conquest
of Portugal, whereby the East Indies, sundry
islands in the Atlantic Sea, and divers places in
Barbary were added to the Crown of Spain. By
these steps this crown came to this grandeur ;
and truly, give the Spaniard his due, he is a mighty
monarch; he hath dominions in all parts of the
world (which none of the four monarchies had),

OF JAMES HOWELL 267

both in Europe, Asia, Africa, and America (which
he hath solely to himself), though our Henry
the Seventh had the first proffer made him : so
the sun shines all the four and twenty hours of
the natural day upon some part or other of his
countries, for part of the Antipodes are subject to
him. He hath eight viceroys in Europe, two in
the East Indies, two in the West, two in Africa,
and about thirty provincial sovereign commanders
more ; yet as I was told lately, in a discourse
'twixt him and our Prince at his being here, when
the Prince fell to magnifying his spacious domin-
ions, the King answered, " Sir, 'tis true it hath
pleased God to trust me with divers nations and
countries, but of all these there are but two which
yield me any clear revenues, viz., Spain and my
West Indies, nor all Spain neither, but Castile
only, the rest do scarce quit cost, for all is drunk
up 'twixt governors and garrisons ; yet my ad-
vantage is to have the opportunity to propagate
Christian religion, and to employ my subjects."
For the last, it must be granted that no prince
hath better means to breed brave men, and more
variety of commands to heighten their spirits,
with no petty but princely employments.

This King besides hath other means to oblige
the gentry unto him by such a huge number of
commendams which he hath in his gift to bestow
on whom he please of any of the three Orders
of Knighthood, which England and France want.
Some noblemen in Spain can despend ;£^So,ooo,

268 FAMILIAR LETTERS

some ;;{'40,ooo, some ^30,000, and divers ^20,-
000 pound per annum. The Church here is ex-
ceeding rich both in revenues, plate, and buildings ;
one cannot go to the meanest country chapel but
he will find chalices, lamps and candlesticks of
silver. There are some bishopricks of X30,ck)0
per annum, and divers of ;^ 10,000, and To-
ledo is ;^ 1 00,000 yearly revenue. As the Church
is rich, so it is mightily reverenced here, and very
powerful, which made Philip the Second rather
depend upon the clergy than the secular power.
Therefore I do not see how Spain can be called
a poor country considering the revenues afore-
said of princes and prelates; nor is it so thin of
people as the world makes it ; and one reason may
be that there are sixteen universities in Spain, and
in one of these there were 15,000 students at one
time when I was there, I mean Salamanca ; and
in this village of Madrid (for the King of Spain
cannot keep his constant court in any city) there
are ordinarily 600,000 souls. 'T is true that the
colonising of the Indies and the wars of Flanders
have much drained this country of people. Since
the expulsion of the Moors it is also grown thin-
ner, and not so full of corn ; for those Moors
would grub up wheat out of the very tops of the
craggy hills ; yet they used another grain for their
bread, so that the Spaniard had nought else to do
but go with his ass to the market and buy corn of
the Moors.

For the soil of Spain, the fruitfulness of their

OF JAMES HOWELL 269

valleys recompenses the sterility of their hills.
Corn is their greatest want, and want of rain is the
cause of that, which makes them have need of their
neighbours ; yet as much as Spain bears is passing
good, and so is everything else for the quality ;
nor hath any one a better horse under him, a better
cloak on his back, i better sword by his side, better
shoes on his feet than the Spaniard, nor doth any
drink better wine or eat better fruit than he, nor
flesh for the quantity.

Touching the people, the Spaniard looks as
high, though not so big as a German, his excess is
in too much gravity, which some who know him
not well hold to be pride ; he cares not how little
he labours, for poor Gascons and Morisco slaves
do most of his work in field and vineyard ; he can
endure much in the war, yet he loves not to fight
in the dark, but in open day or upon a stage, that
all the world might be witness of his valour, so
that you shall seldom hear of Spaniards employed
in night service, nor shall one hear of a duel here
in an age. He hath one good quality, that he
is wonderfully obedient to government: for the
proudest don of Spain,when he is prancing upon his
ginet in the street, if an Alguazil (a sergeant) show
him his vare, that is a little white staffs he carrieth
as a badge of his ofliice, my don will down presently
ofi^ his horse and yield himself his prisoner. He
hath another commendable quality, that when he
giveth alms he pulls off his hat and puts it in the
beggar's hand with a great deal of humility. His

270 FAMILIAR LETTERS

gravity is much lessened since the late proclamation
came out against rufFs, and the King himself showed
the first example. They were come to that height
of excess herein that twenty shillings were used to
be paid for starching of a ruff; and some, though
perhaps he had never a shirt to his back, yet would
he have a toting huge swelling i^fF about his neck.
He is sparing in his ordinary diet, but when he
makes a feast he is free and bountiful. As to
temporal authority, specially martial, so is he very
obedient to the Church, and believes all with an
implicit faith. He is a great servant of ladies, nor
can he be blamed, for as I said before, he comes
of a Goatish race, yet he never brags of nor blazes
abroad his doings that way, but is exceedingly
careful of the repute of any woman (a civility that
we much want in England). He will speak high
words of Don Phillippo his king, but will not
endure a stranger should do so. I have heard
a Biscayner make a rodomontado that he was as
good a gentleman as Don Phillippo himself, for
Don Phillippo was half a Spaniard, half a Ger-
man, half an Italian, half a Frenchman, half I
know not what, but he was a pure Biscayner with-
out mixture. The Spaniard is not so smooth and
oily in his compliments as the Italian, and though
he will make strong protestations yet he will not
swear out compliments like the French and Eng-
lish ; as I heard when my Lord of Carlisle was
ambassador in France, there came a great monsieur
to see him, and having a long time bandied and

OF JAMES HOWELL 271

sworn compliments one to another who should go
first out at a door, at last my Lord of Carlisle
said: "O nionseigneur, ayez pitie de mon ame"
(O my lord, have pity upon my soul).

The Spaniard is generally given to gaming, and
that in excess; he will say his prayers before, and
if he win, he will fhank God for his good fortune
after. Their common game at cards (for they very
seldom play at dice) is primera, at which the. King
never shows his game but throws his cards with
their faces down on the table. He is merchant
of all the cards and dice throughout the kingdom ;
he hath them made for a penny a pair, and he retails
them for twelve pence, so that it is thought he
hath ;^30,ooo a year by this trick at cards. The
Spaniard is very devout in his way, for I have
seen him kneel in the very dirt when the Ave
Maria bell rings ; and some if they spy two straws
or sticks lie crosswise in the street they will take
them up and kiss them, and lay them down again.
He walks as if he marched, and seldom looks
on the ground, as if he contemned it. I was told
of a Spaniard who having got a fall by a stumble
and broke his nose, rose up, and in a disdainful
manner said, "Voto a tal esto es caminar por la
tierra " (This is to walk upon earth). The Labra-
dors and country swains here are sturdy and
rational men, nothing so simple or servile as the
French peasant, who is born in chains. It is true
the Spaniard is not so conversable as other nations
(unless he hath travelled), else he is like Mars

272 FAMILIAR LETTERS

among the planets, impatient of conjunction. Nor
is he so free in his gifts and rewards : as the last
summer it happened that Count Gondomar with
Sir Francis Cottington went to see a curious
house of the Constable of Castile's, which had
been newly built here. The keeper of the house
was very officious to show him every room, with
the garden, grottos and aqueducts, and presented
him with some fruit. Gondomar having been a
long time in the house, coming out, put many
compliments of thanks upon the man, and so was
going away. Sir Francis whispered him in the ear
and asked him whether he would give the man
anything that took such pains. " Oh," quoth
Gondomar, "well remembered, Don Francisco;
have you ever a double pistole about you ? If
you have, you may give it him, and then you pay
him after the English manner. I have paid him
already after the Spanish." The Spaniard is much
improved in policy since he took footing in Italy,
^nd there is no nation agrees with him better.
I will conclude this character with a saying that he
hath —

No ay hombre dcbaxo d'el sol,
Como el Italiano y el Espafiol.

Whereunto a Frenchman answered —

Dizes la verdad, y denes razon,
£1 uno es puto, el otro ladron.

Englished thus —

Beneath the sun there 's no such man.
As is the Spaniard and Italian.

OF JAMES HOWELL 273

The Frenchman answers —

Thou tell'st the truth, and reason hast.
The first 's a thief, a buggerer the last.

Touching their women, nature hath made a more
visible distinction betwixt the two sexes here than
elsewhere; for the men, for the most part, are
swarthy and rough, but the women are of a far
finer mould. They are commonly little. And
whereas there is a saying that makes a complete
woman, let her be English to the neck, French to
the waist, and Dutch below ; I may add for hands
and feet let her be Spanish, for they have the
least of any. They have another saying: a French-
woman in a dance, a Dutchwoman in the kitchen,
an Italian in a window, an Englishwoman at board,
and the Spanish a-bed. When they are married
they have a privilege to wear high shoes, and to
paint, which is generally practised here, and the
Queen useth it herself. They are coy enough, but
not so froward as our English, for if a lady go
along the street (and all women going here veiled
and their habit so generally alike, one can hardly
distinguish a countess from a cobbler's wife), if
one should cast out an odd ill-sounding word,
and ask her a favour, she will not take it ill, but
put it off and answer you with some witty retort.
After thirty they are commonly past child-bearing,
and I h^ve seen women in England look as youth-
ful at fifty as some here at twenty-five. Money
will do miracles here in purchasing the favour
of ladies, or anything else ; though this be the

274 FAMILIAR LETTERS

country of money, for it furnisheth well near all
the world besides, yea, their very enemies, as the
Turk and Hollander; insomuch that one may
say the coin of Spain is as Catholic as her king.
Yet though he be the greatest king of gold and
silver mines in the world (I think), yet the com-
mon current coin here is copper, and herein I be-
lieve the Hollander hath done him more mischief
by counterfeiting his copper coins than by their
arms, bringing it in by strange surreptitious ways,
as in hollow sows of tin and lead, hollow masts,
in pitch buckets under water and other ways.
But I fear to be injurious to this great king, to
speak of him in so a narrow a compass: a great
king indeed, though the French in a slighting way
compare his monarchy to a beggar's cloak made
up of patches. They are patches indeed, but such
as he hath not the like. The East Indies is a
patch embroidered with pearl, rubies, and dia-
monds. Peru is a patch embroidered with massive
gold; Mexico with silver; Naples and Milan are
patches of cloth of tissue; and if these patches
were in one piece, what would become of his cloak
embroidered with flower de luces ?

So desiring your lordship to pardon this poor
imperfect paper, considering the high quality of
the subject, I rest, your lordship's most humble
servitor, J. H.

Madrid, i February 1623.

OF JAMES HOWELL 275

XXXIII

To Mr Walsingham Gresly ; from Madrid

Don Balthasar,

I THANK you for your letter in my lord's last
packet, wherein among other passages you
write unto me the circumstances of Marquis Spi-
nola's raising his leaguer by flatting and firing his
works before Berghen. He is much taxed here to
have atempted it, and to have buried so much of
the king's treasure before that towh in such costly
trenches. A gentleman came hither lately, who
was at the siege all the while, and he told me one
strange passage, how Sir Ferdinand Cary, a huge
corpulent knight, was shot through his body, the
bullet entering at the navel, and coming out at
his back killed his man behind him, yet he lives
still, and is like to recover. With this miraculous
accident he told me also a merry one, how a cap-
tain that had a wooden leg booted over, had it
shattered to pieces by a cannon bullet, his soldiers
crying out " A surgeon, a surgeon, for the cap-
tain." " No, no," said he, " a carpenter, a carpen-
ter will serve the turn." To this pleasant tale I '11
add another that happened lately in Alcala hard by
of a Dominican friar, who in a solemn procession
which was held there upon Ascension Day last,
had his stones dangling under his habit cut off
instead of his pocket by a cut-purse.

276 FAMILIAR LETTERS

Before you return hither, which I understand
will be speedily, I pray bestow a visit on our
friends in Bishopsgate Street. So I am your faith-
ful servitor, J. H.

3 February 1623.

XXXIV

To Sir Robert Napier , Knight^ at his house
in Bishopsgate Street; from Madrid

*

THE late breach of the match hath broke the
neck of all businesses here, and mine suffers
as much as any. I had access lately to Olivares,
once or twice ; I had audience also of the King,
to whom I presented a memorial that intimated
letters of mart, unless satisfaction were had from
his viceroy the Conde del Real. The King gave
me a gracious answer, but Olivares a churlish
one, viz., that when the Spaniards had justice in
England we should have justice here. So that
notwithstanding I have brought it to the highest
point and pitch of perfection in law that could be,
and procured some dispatches, the like whereof
were never granted in this court before, yet I am
in despair now to do any good. I hope to be
shortly in England, by God's grace, to give you
and the rest of the proprietaries a punctual account
of all things. And you may easily conceive how
sorry I am that matters succeeded not according to
your expectation and my endeavours ; but I hope

OF JAMES HOWELL 277

you are none of those that measure things by the
event. The Earl of Bristol, Count Gondomar,
and my Lord Ambassador Aston did not only
do courtesies, but they did co-operate with me in
it, and contributed their utmost endeavours. — So
I rest, yours to serve you, J. H.

Madrid, February 18, 1623.

XXXV

Ti? Mr A. S.y in Alicante

MUCH endeared sir, fire, you know, is the
common emblem of love. But without any
disparagement to so noble a passion, methinks it
might be also compared to tinder, and letters are
the properest matter whereof to make this tinder.
Letters again are fittest to kindle and re-accend
this tinder. They may serve both for flint, steel
and match. This letter of mine comes therefore
of set purpose to strike some sparkles into yours,
that it may glow and burn and receive ignition,
and not lie dead, as it hath done a great while. I
make my pen to serve for an instrument to stir
the cinders wherewith your old love to me hath
been covered a long time, therefore I pray let no
couvre-feu bell have power hereafter to rake up
and choke with the ashes of oblivion that clear
flame wherewith our affections did use to sparkle
so long by correspondence of letters and other
offices of love.

278 FAMILIAR LETTERS

I think I shall sojoam yet in this court these
three months, for I will not give over this great
business while there is the least breath of hope
remaining.

I know you have choice matters of intelligence
sometimes from thence, therefore I pray impart
some unto us, and you shall not fail to know how
matters pass here weekly. So with my besamanos
to Frandsco Imperial, I rest yours most affection-
ately to serve you, J- H.

Madrid, 3 March 1623.

XXXVI

To the Honourable Sir T. 5., at Tower Hill

I WAS yesterday at the Escurial to see the
Monastery of Saint Laurence, the eighth won-
der of the world ; and truly considering the site
of the place, the state of the thing, and the sym-
metry of the structure, with divers other rarities,
it may be called so ; for what I have seen in Italy,
and other places, are but baubles to it. It is built
amongst a company of craggy barren hills, which
makes the air the hungrier and wholesomer ; it is all
built of freestone and marble, and that with such
solidity and moderate height that surely Philip
the Second's chief design was to make a sacrifice
of it to eternity, and to contest with the meteors and
time itself. It cost eight millions ; it was twenty-
four years a-building, and the founder himself saw

OF JAMES HOWELL 279

it furnished, and enjoyed it twelve years after, and
carried his bones himself thither to be buried.

The reason that moved King Philip to waste
so much treasure was a vow he had made at the
battle of Saint Quentin, where he was forced to
batter a monastery of Saint Laurence friars, and
if he had the victory, he would erect such a mon-
astery to Saint Laurence that the world had not
the like ; therefore the form of it is like a grid-
iron, the handle is a huge royal palace, and the
body a vast monastery or assembly of quadran-
gular cloisters, for there are as many as there be
months in the year. There be a hundred monks,
and every one hath his man and his mule, and
a multitude of officers ; besides, there are three
libraries there, full of the choicest books for all
sciences. It is beyond expression what grots,
gardens, walks, and aqueducts there are there, and
what curious fountains in the upper cloisters, for
there be two stages of cloisters. In fine, there is
nothing that 's vulgar there. To take a view of
every room in the house one must make account
to go ten miles ; there is a vault called the Pan-
theon under the highest altar, which is all paved,
walled, and arched with marble ; there be a num-
ber of huge silver candlesticks, taller than I am ;
lamps three yards compass, and divers chalices
and crosses of massive gold ; there is one choir
made all of burnished brass ; pictures and statues
like giants ; and a world of glorious things that
purely ravished me. By this mighty monument.

28o FAMILIAR LETTERS

it may be inferred that Philip the Second, though
he was a little man, yet had he vast gigantic
thoughts in him, to leave such a huge pile for
posterity to gaze upon and admire his memory.
No more now, but that I rest, your most humble
servitor, J. H.

Madrid, March 9, 1623.

XXXVII

To the Lord Viscount Colchester; from Madrid

My Lord,

YOU wrote to me not long since to send you
an. account of the Duke of Ossuna's death,
a little man, but of great fame and fortunes, and
much cried up, and known up and down the
world. He was revoked from being Viceroy of
Naples (the best employment the King of Spain
hath for a subject) upon some disgust ; and being
come to this court where he was brought to give
an account of his government, being troubled with
the gout, he carried his sword in his hand instead
of a staff. The King misliking the manner of his
posture, turned his back to him, and so went
away. Thereupon he was overheard to mutter,
" Esto es par a servir muchachos " (This it is
to serve boys). This coming to the King's ear,
he was apprehended and committed prisoner to
a monastery not far off, where he continued some

OF JAMES HOWELL 281

years until his beard came to his girdle, then grow-
ing very ill, he was permitted to come to his house
in this town, being carried in a bed upon men's
shoulders, and so died some years ago. There
were divers accusations against him, amongst the
rest, I remember these. That he had kept the
Marquis de Campolataro's wife, sending her hus-
band out of the way upon employment. That
he had got a bastard of a Turkish woman, and
suffered the child to be brought up in the Mo-
hammedan religion. That being one day at high
mass, when the host was elevated he drew out
of his pocket a piece of gold, and held it up,
intimating that that was his god. That he had in-
vited some of the prime courtesans of Naples to
a feast, and after dinner made a banquet for them
in his garden, where he commanded them to strip
themselves stark naked and go up and down,
while he shot sugar plums at them out of a trunk,
which they were to take up from off their high
chapins, and such like extravagances. One
(amongst divers others) witty passage was told
me of him, which was, that when he was Viceroy
of Sicily, there died a great rich duke, who left
but one son, whom with his whole estate he be-
queathed to the tutule of the Jesuits, and the
words of the will were, " When he is past his
minority " (darete al mio figliuolo quelque voi vo-
lete) " you shall give my son what you will." It
seems the Jesuits took to themselves two parts
of three of the estate, and gave the rest to the

282 FAMILIAR LETTERS

heir. The young duke complaining hereof to the
Duke of Ossuna (then viceroy), he commanded
the Jesuits to appear before him. He asked them
how much of the estate they would have, they an-
swered two parts of three, which they had almost
employed already to build monasteries and an
hospital, to erect particular altars and masses, to
sing dirges and refrigeriums for the soul of the
deceased duke. Hereupon the Duke of Ossuna
caused the will to be produced, and found therein
the words afore-recited, " When he is passed his
minority, you shall give my son of my estate
what you will." Then he told the Jesuits, you
must by virtue and tenor of these words, give
what you will to the son, which by your own con-
fession is two parts of three, and so he determined
the business.

Thus have I in part satisfied your lordship's
desire, which I shall do more amply when I shall
be made happy to attend you in person, which I
hope will be ere it be long. In the interim, I take
my leave of you from Spain, and rest your lord-
ship's most ready and humble servitor,

J. H.

Madrid, 13 March 1623.

OF JAMES HOWELL 283

XXXVIII
To Simon Digbyy Esq.

I THANK you for the several sorts of cyphers
you sent me to write by, which were very
choice ones and curious. Cryptology, or Episto-
lising in a Clandestine Way, is very ancient. I
read in A. Gellius that C. Caesar in his letters to
Caius Oppius and Balbus Cornelius, who were
two of his greatest confidants in managing his
private affairs, did write in cyphers by a various
transportation of the alphabet ; whereof Proclus
Grammaticus, De occulta literarum significatione
Epistolarum C. Caesaris, writes a curious com-
mentary. But methinks that certain kind of hiero-
glyphics, the caelestial signs, the seven planets,
and other constellations might make a curious
kind of cypher, as I will more particularly demon-
strate unto you in a scheme, when I shall be
happy with your conversation. — So I rest, your
assured servitor, J. H.

Madrid, March 15, 1623.

r

XXXIX

To Sir yames Crofts ; from Bilboa

B

EING safely come to the Marine, in convoy
of His Majesty's jewels, and being to sojourn

284 FAMILIAR LETTERS

here some days, the convenienqr of this gentleman
(who knows, and much honooreth you), he being
to ride post through France, invited me to send you
this.

We were but five horsemen in all our seven days'
journey from Madrid hither, and the charge Mr
Wiches had is valued at four hundred thousand
crowns ; but it is such safe travelling in Spain, that
one may carry gold in the palm of his hand, the
government is so good. When we had gained
Biscay ground, we passed one day through a forest,
and lighting off our mules to take a little repast
under a tree, we took down our alforjas and some
bottles of wine (and you know it is ordinary here
to ride with one's victuals about him), but as we
were eating we spied two huge wolves, who stared
upon us a while, but had the good manners to go
away. It put me in mind of a pleasant tale I heard
Sir Thomas Fairfax relate of a soldier in Ireland,
who having got his passport to go for England, as
he passed through a wood with his knapsack upon
his back, being weary, he sat down under a tree,
where he opened his knapsack, and fell to some
victuals he had ; but upon a sudden he was sur-
prised with two or three wolves, who, coming
towards him, he threw them scraps of bread and
cheese, till all was done, then the wolves making a
nearer approach unto him, he knew not what shift
to make, but by taking a pair of bagpipes which
he had, and as soon as he began to play upon them
the wolves ran all away as if they had been scared

OF JAMES HOWELL 285

out of their wits ; whereupon the soldier said, " A
pox take you all, if I had known you had loved
music so well, you should have had it before din-
ner."

If there be a lodging void at the Three Hal-
bards Heads, I pray be pleased to cause it to be
reserved for me. So I rest, your humble servitor,

J. H.

Bilboa, September 6, 1624.

EPISTOLiE HO-ELIANiE

SECTION IV

SECTION IV
I

To my Father; from London

I AM newly returned from Spain. I came over
in convoy of the Prince his jewels, for which
one of the ships royal with the Catch were sent
under the command of Captain Love. We landed
at Plymouth, whence I came by post to Theo-
bald's in less than two nights and a day, to
bring His Majesty news of their safe arrival. The
Prince had newly got a fall off a horse, and kept
his chamber. The jewels were valued at above a
hundred thousand pounds. Some of them a little
before the Prince his departure had been presented
to the Infanta, but she waiving to receive them,
yet with a civil compliment they were left in the
hands of one of the secretaries of state for her use
upon the wedding day, and it was no unworthy
thing in the Spaniard to deliver them back, not-
withstanding that the treaties both of match and
Palatinate had been dissolved a pretty while before
by act of Parliament, that a war was threatened,
and ambassadors revoked. There were jewels also
amongst them to be presented to the King and

I

290 FAMILIAR LETTERS

Queen of Spain, to most of the ladies of honour,
and the grandees. There was a great table dia-
mond for Olivares of 1 8 carats' weight ; but the
richest of all was to the Infanta herself, which was
a chain of great orient pearls, to the number of 276,
weighing nine ounces. The Spaniards, notwith-
standing they are the masters of the staple of jewels, .
stood astonished at the beauty of these, and con-
fessed themselves to be put down.

Touching the employment upon which I went
to Spain, I had my charges borne all the while,
and that was all. Had it taken effect, I had made
a good business of it ; but it is no wonder (nor
can it be, I hope, any disrepute unto me) that I
could not bring to pass what three ambassadors
could not do before me.

I am now casting about for another fortune, and
some hopes I have of employment about the Duke
of Buckingham. He sways more than ever, for
whereas he was before a favourite to the King, he
is now a favourite to Parliament, people and city,
for breaking the match with Spain. Touching his
own interest, he had reason to do it, for the Span-
iards love him not ; but whether the public inter-
est of the state will suffer in it or no, I dare not
determine. For my part, I hold the Spanish match
to be better than their powder, and their wares
better than their wars ; and I shall be ever of that
mind, that no country is able to do England less
hurt and more good than Spain, considering the
large traffic and treasure that is to be got thereby.

OF JAMES HOWELL 291

I shall continue to give you account of my
courses when opportunity serves, and to dispose
of matters so that I may attend you this summer
in the country. So desiring still your blessing
and prayers, I rest your dutiful son, J- H.

London, December 10, 1624.

II
To R. Brown, Esq.

THERE is no seed so fruitful as that of love.
I do not mean that gross carnal love which
propagates the world, but that which preserves it,
to wit, seeds of friendship, which hath little com-
merce with the body, but is a thing divine and
spiritual. There cannot be a more pregnant proof
hereof than those seeds of love which I have long
since cast into your breast, which have thriven so
well, and in that exuberance, that they have been
more fruitful unto me than that field in Sicily
called le trecente cariche (the field of three hundred
loads), so called because it returns the sower three
hundred for one yearly, so plentiful hath your
love been unto me. But amongst other sweet fruits
it hath born, those precious letters which you have
sent me from time to time, both at home and
abroad, are not of the least value. I did always
hug and highly esteem them, and you in them, for
they yielded me both profit and pleasure.

That seed which you have also sown in me hath

292 FAMILIAR LETTERS

fructified something, but it hath not been able to
make you such rich returns, nor afford so plentiful
a crop ; yet I daresay, this crop, how thin soever,
was pure and free from tares, from cockle or darn-
ell, from flattery or falsehood, and what it shall
produce hereafter shall be so; nor shall any injury
of the heavens, as tempests, or thunder and light-
ning (I mean no cross or affliction whatsoever) be
able to blast and smut it, or hinder it to grow up
and fructify still.

This is the third time God Almighty hath been
pleased to bring me back to the sweet bosom of
my dear country from beyond the seas. I have
been already comforted with the sight of many of
my choice friends, but I miss you extremely, there-
fore I pray make haste, for London streets which
you and I have trod together so often will prove
tedious to me else. Amongst other things. Black-
friars will entertain you with a play, " spick and
span new," and the Cockpit with another. Nor I
believe after so long absence, will it be an unpleas-
ing object for you to see, yours, J. H.

London, January 20, 1624.

Ill

Tl? the Lord Viscount Colchester

M

Right Honourable,

Y last to your lordship was in Italian, with
the Venetian Gazetta enclosed. Count

OF JAMES HOWELL 293

Mansfelt is upon point of parting, having obtained
it seems the sum of his desires. He was lodged
all the while in the same quarter of St James, which
was appointed for the Infanta. He supped yes-
ternight with the council of war, and he hath a
grant of 12,000 men, English and Scots, whom he
will have ready in the body of an army against the
next spring ; and they say that England, France,
Venice, and Savoy do contribute for the mainten-
ance thereof 60,000 pounds a month. There can
be no conjecture, much less any judgment made
yet of his design ; most think it will be for re-
lieving Breda, which is straitly begirt by Spinola,
who gives out that he hath her already as a bird
in a cage, and will have her maugre all the oppo-
sition of Christendom. Yet there is fresh news
come over that Prince Maurice hath got on the
back of him, and hath beleaguered him, as he
hath done the town, which I want faith to believe
yet, in regard of the huge circuit of Spinola's works,
for his circumvallations are cried up to be near
upon twenty miles. But while the Spaniard is
spending millions here for getting small towns, the
Hollander gets k^ingdoms off him elsewhere. He
hath invaded and taken lately from the Portugal
part of Brazil, a rich country for sugars, cottons,
balsams, dyeing-wood, and divers commodities
besides.

The treaty of marriage betwixt our Prince and
the youngest daughter of France goes on apace,
and my Lords of Carlisle and Holland are in Paris

294 FAMILIAR LETTERS

about it. We shall see now what difference there
is betwixt the French and Spanish pace. The two
Spanish ambassadors have been gone hence long
since : they say that they are both in prison, one
in Burgos in Spain, the other in Flanders, for the
scandalous information they made here against
the Duke of Buckingham, about which, the day
before their departure hence, they desired to have
one private audience more, but His Majesty
denied them. I believe they will not continue long
in disgrace, for matters grow daily worse and worse
betwixt us and Spain ; for divers letters of marque
are granted our merchants, and letters of marque
are commonly the forerunners of a war. Yet they
say Gondomar will be on his way hither again
about the Palatinate, for the King of Denmark
appears now in his niece's quarrel, and arms apace.
No more now, but that I kiss your lordship's
hands, and rest your most humble and ready
servitor, J. H.

London, 5 February 1624.

IV

To my Cousin, Mr Roland Guin

Cousin,

WAS lately sorry, and I was lately glad, that

I

I heard you were ill, that I heard you are well.
— Your affectionate cousin, J. H.

OF JAMES HOWELL 295

To Thomas "Jones^ Esq.

Tom,

IF you are in health,'tis well ; we are here all so,
and we should be better had we your company.
Therefore, I pray, leave the smutty air of London
and come hither to breathe sweeter, where you
may pluck a rose and drink a cillibub. — Your
faithful friend,

J. H.
Kentis, June i, 1625.

VI
To D. C.

THE bearer hereof hath no other errand but
to know how you do in the country, and
this paper is his credential letter. Therefore, I
pray, hasten his dispatch, and if you please send
him back like the man in the moon, with a basket
of your fruit on his back. — Your true friend,

J. H.

London, this August 10, 1625.

296 FAMIUAR LETTERS

VII

To my father I from London

I RECEIVED yours of the third of Febraary
by the hands of my cooaDyThonuis Gain of
Trecastle.

It was my fortune to be on Sunday was fort-
night at Theobalds, where his late majesty King
James departed this life and went to his last rest
upon the day of rest, presently after sermon was
done. A little before the break of day he sent
for the Prince, who rose out of his bed and came
in his nigh^own ; the King seemed to have some
earnest thing to say unto him, and so endeavoured
to raise himself upon his pillow, but his spirits
were so spent that he had not strength to make
his words audible. He died of a fever which
b^an with an ague, and some Scotch doctors mut-
ter at a plaster the Countess of Buckingham ap-
plied to the outside of his stomach. It is thought
the last breach of the match with Spain, which for
many years he had so vehemently desired, took
too deep an impression on him, and that he was
forced to rush into a war now in his declining age,
having lived in a continual uninterrupted peace
his whole life, except some collateral aids he had
sent his son-in-law. As soon as he expired the
Privy Council sat, and in less than a quarter of
an hour. King Charles was proclaimed at Theo-

OF JAMES HOWELL 297

balds Court Gate by Sir Edward Zouch, Knight
Marshal, Master Secretary Conway dictating unto
him : " That whereas it hath pleased God to take
to His mercy our most gracious sovereign King
James of famous memory, we proclaim Prince
Charles his rightful and indubitable heir to be
King of England, Scotland, France, and Ireland,
etc." The Knight Marshal mistook, saying, " His
rightful and dubitable heir," but he was rectified
by the secretary. This being done, I took my horse
instantly and came to London first, except one who
was come a little before me, insomuch, that I found
the gates shut. His now Majesty took coach and
the Duke of Buckingham with him, and came to
Saint James. In the evening he was proclaimed at
Whitehall Gate, in Cheapside, and other places in
a sad shower of rain ; and the weather was suitable
to the condition wherein he finds the kingdom
which is cloudy ; for he is left engaged in a war
with a potent prince, the people by long desuetude
unapt for arms, the fleet royal in quarter repair,
himself without a queen, his sister without a coun-
try, the crown pitifully laden with debts, and the
purse of the state lightly ballasted, though it never
had better opportunity to be rich than it had
these last twenty years. But God Almighty I hope
will make him emerge and pull this island out
of all these plunges, and preserve us from worser
times.

The plague is begun in Whitechapel, and as they
say, in the same house, at the same day of the

298 FAMILIAR LETTERS

month, with the same number that died twenty-
two years since when Queen Elizabeth departed.

There are great preparations for the funeral, and
there is a design to buy all the cloth for mourning
white and then to put it to the dyers in gross,
which is like to save the crown a good deal of
money ; the drapers murmur extremely at the Lord
Cranfield for it.

I am not settled yet in any stable condition, but
I lie windbound at the Cape of Good Hope,
expecting some gentle gale to launch out into an
employment.

So with my love to all my brothers and sisters
at the Bryn, and near Brecknock, I humbly crave
a continuance of your prayers and blessing to
your dutiful son, J. H.

London, December ii, 1625.

VIII
To Dr Prichard

SINCE I was beholden to you for your many
favours in Oxford, I have not heard from
you {ne gry quideni). I pray let the wonted corre-
spondence be now revived and receive new vigour
between us.

My Lord Chancellor Bacon is lately dead of
a long languishing weakness; he died so poor,
that he scarce left money to bury him, which,
though he had a great wit, did argue no great wis-

OF JAMES HOWELL 299

dom, it being one of the essential properties of a
wise man to provide for the main chance. I have
read that it hath been the fortunes of all poets
commonly to die beggars ; but for an orator, a
lawyer, and philosopher, as he was, to die so, 't is
rare. It seems the same fate befell him that at-
tended Demosthenes, Seneca, and Cicero (all great
men), of whom the two first fell by corruption.
The fairest diamond may have a flaw in it, but I
believe he died poor out of contempt of the pelf
of fortune, as also out of an excess of generosity ;
which appeared as in divers other passages, so
once when the King had sent him a stag, he sent
up for the underkeeper, and having drunk the
King's health unto him in a great silver-gilt bowl,
he gave it him for his fee.

He wrote a pitiful letter to King James not
long before his death, and concludes. Help me,
dear sovereign lord and master, and pity me so
far, that I who have been born to a bag be not
now in my age forced in effect to bear a wallet ;
nor I that desire to live to study may be driven
to study to live. Which words, in my opinion,
argueth a little abjection of spirit, as his former
letter to the Prince did of profaneness, wherein he
hoped that as the Father was his creator the Son
will be his redeemer. I write not this to derogate
from the noble worth of the Lord Viscount Ver-
ulam, who was a rare man, a man reconditae scien-
tiaey et ad salutem literarum natuSy and I think the
eloquentest that was born in this isle. They say

300 FAMILIAR LETTERS

he shall be the last Lord Chancellor, as Sir Ed-
ward Coke was the last Lord Chief-Justice of Eng-
land : for ever since thev have been termed Lord
Chief- Justices of the King's Bench, so hereafter
tKey shall be only Keepers of the Great Seal,
which for title and office are deposable, but they
say the Lord Chancellor's title is indelible.

I was lately at Gray's Inn with Sir Eubule, and
he desired me to remember him unto you, as I do
also salute Meum Prichardum ex imis praecordiis.
Vale K€(l>a\TJ fioi irpoo'^ikea'TdTq. — Yours most
affectionately, while J. H.

London, January 6, 1625.

IX

To my well-beloved Cousiriy Mr T. V.

Cousin,

YOU have a great work in hand, for you write
unto me that you are upon a treaty of mar-
riage. A great work indeed, and a work of such
consequence that it may make you or mar you.
It may make the whole remainder of your life
uncouth or comfortable to you ; for of all civil
actions that are incident to man, there is not any
that tends more to his infelicity or happiness.
Therefore it concerns you not to be over-hasty
herein, not to take the ball before the bound.
You must be cautious how you thrust your neck

OF JAMES HOWELL 301

into such a yoke, whence you will never have
power to withdraw it again, for the tongue useth
to tie so hard a knot that the teeth can never
untie, no not Alexander's swor4 can cut asunder
among us Christians. If you are resolved to
marry, choose where you love, and resolve to
love your choice (let love rather than lucre be
your guide in this election), though a concurrence
of both be good, yet, for my part, I had rather
the latter should be wanting than the first. The
one is the pilot, the other but the ballast, of the
ship which should carry us to the harbour of
a happy life. If you are bent to wed I wish you
anothergess wife than Socrates had. And as I
wish you may not light upon such a Zantippe (as
the wisest men have had ill-luck in this kind, as
I could instance in two of our most eminent law-
yers, C, B.), so I pray that God may deliver
you from a wife of such a generation that Strowd
our cook here at Westminster said his wife was
of, who, when (out of a mislike of the preacher)
he had on a Sunday in the afternoon gone out of
the church to a tavern, and returning towards the
evening pretty well heated with canary to look to
his roast, and his wife falling to read him a loud
lesson in so furious a manner as if she would
have basted him instead of the mutton, and
amongst other revilings, telling him often, that
the devil, the devil, would fetch him, at last he
broke out of a long silence, and told her, I pri-
thee, good wife, hold thyself content, for I know

302 FAMILIAR LETTERS

the devil will do me no hurt, for I have married
his kinswoman. If you light upon such a wife
(a wife that hath more bone than flesh) I wish
you may have the same measure of patience that
Socrates and Strowd had, to suffer the gray mare
sometimes to be the better horse. I remember
a French proverb —

La maison est miserable et mechante
Ou la poule plus haut que le coq chante.

That house doth every day more wretched grow
Where the hen louder than the cock doth crow.

Yet we have another English proverb almost
counter to this. That it is better to marry a shrew
than a sheep; for though silence be the dumb
orator of beauty, and the bfest ornament of a
woman, yet a phlegmatic dull wife is fulsome and
fastidious.

Excuse me, cousin, that I jest with you in so
serious a business. I know you need no counsel
of mine herein. You are discreet enough of your-
self, nor, I presume, do you want advice of parents,
which by all means must go along with you. So
wishing you all conjugal joy, and a happy confar-
reation, I rest, your affectionate cousin,

J. H.

Londoriy February 5, 1625.

OF JAMES HOWELL 303

X

To my noble Lordy the Lord Clifford; from

London

My Lord,

THE Duke of Buckingham is lately returned
from Holland, having renewed the peace
with the States and articled with them for a con-
tinuation of some naval forces fofr an expedition
against Spain, as also having taken up some mon-
ies upon private jewels (not any of the Crown's),
and lastly, having comforted the Lady Elizabeth
for the decease of his late Majesty her father and
of Prince Frederick, her eldest son, whose disas-
trous manner of death, amongst the rest of her sad
afflictions, is not the least. For passing over Haar-
lem Mere, a huge inland lough, in company of his
father, who had been in Amsterdam to look how his
bank of money did thrive, and coming (for more
frugality) in the common boat, which was overset
with merchandise, and other passengers, in a thick
fog the vessel turned over and so many per-
ished. The Prince Palsgrave saved himself by
swimming, but the young prince clinging to the
mast, and being entangled amongst the tacklings,
was half drowned and half frozen to death — a sad
destiny.

There is an open rupture betwixt us and the
Spaniard, though he gives out that he never broke
with us to this day. Count Gondomar was on his

304 FAMILIAR LETTERS

way to Flanders, and thence to England (as they
say) with a large commission to treat for a sur-
render of the Palatinate, and so to piece matters
together again, but he died on the journey, at a
place called Bunnol, of pure apprehensions of
grief, it is given out.

The match betwixt His Majesty and the Lady
Henrietta Maria, youngest daughter to Henry the
Great (the eldest being married to the King of
Spain, and the second to the Duke of Savoy) goes
roundly on, and is in a manner concluded ; where-
at the Count of Soissons is much discontented,
who gave himself hopes to have her, but the hand
of heaven hath predestined her for a far higher
condition.

The French ambassadors who were sent hither
to conclude the business, having private audience
of his late Majesty a little before his death, he told
them pleasantly that he would make war against
the Lady Henrietta because she would not receive
the two letters which were sent her, one from him-
self and the other from his son, but sent them to
her mother ; yet he thought he should easily make
peace with her, because he understood she had
afterwards put the latter letter in her bosom, and
the first in her coshionet, whereby he gathered
that she intended to reserve his son for her affec-
tion and him for counsel.

The Bishop of Lu9on, now Cardinal de Riche-
lieu, is grown to be the sole favourite of the King
of France, being brought in by the queen mother.

OF JAMES HOWELL 305

He hath been very active in advancing the match,
but it is thought the wars will break out afresh
against them of the religion, notwithstanding the
ill fortune the King had before Montauban a few
years since, where he lost above 500 of his nobles,
whereof the great Duke of Main was one, and
having Iain in person before the town many
months, and received some affronts, as that in-
scription upon their gates shows, " Roy sans foy,
ville sans peur " (a king without faith, a town with-
out fear), yet he was forced to rase his works and
raise his siege.

The letter which Mr Ellis Hicks brought them
of Montauban from Rochelle, through so much
danger and with so much gallantry, was an in-
finite advantage unto them ; for whereas there
was a politic report raised in the King's army
and blown into Montauban that Rochelle was
yielded to the Count of Soissons who lay then
before her, this letter did inform the contrary,
and that Rochelle was in as good a plight as
ever. Whereupon they made a sally the next day
upon the King's forces and did him a great deal
of spoil.

There be summons out for a Parliament. Ipray
God it may prove more prosperous than the for-
mer.

I have been lately recommended to the Duke
of Buckingham by some noble friends of mine
that have intimacy with him, about whom, though
he hath three secretaries already, I hope to have

3o6 FAMILIAR LETTERS

some employment, for I am weary of walking up
and down so idly upon London streets.

The plague begins to rage mightily ; God avert
His judgments that menace so great a mortality,
and turn not away His face from this poor island.
So I kiss your lordship's hand, in quality of your
lordship's most humble servitor,

J. H.

London, 25 February 1625.

XI

To Rich. Althaniy Esquire

THE echo wants but a face and the looking-
glass a voice to make them both living crea-
tures, and to become the same bodies they repre-
sent, the one by repercussion of sound, the other
by reflection of sight. Your most ingenious letters
to me from time to time do far more lively re-
present you than either echo or crystal can do.
I mean they represent the better and nobler part
of you, to wit, the inward man. They clearly set
forth the notions of your mind and the motions
of your soul, with the strength of your imagina-
tion ; for as I know your exterior person by your
lineaments, so I know you as well inwardly by
your lines and by those lively expressions you give
of yourself, insomuch that I believe if the interior
man within you were so visible as the outward
(as once Plato wished that virtue might be seen

OF JAMES HOWELL 307

with the corporal eyes) you would draw all the
world after you ; or if your well-born thoughts
and the words of your letters were echoed in any
place where they might rebound and be made aud-
ible, they are composed of such sweet and charm-
ing strains of ingenuity and eloquence that all the
nymphs of the woods and the valleys, the dryads,
yea, the graces and muses, would pitch their
pavilions there, nay, Apollo himself would dwell
longer in that place with his rays and make them
reverberate more strongly than either upon Pindus
or Parnassus or Rhodes itself, whence he never
removes his eye as long as he is above this hemi-
sphere. I confess my letters to you, which I send
by way of correspondence, come far short of such
virtue, yet are they the true ideas of my mind and
that real and inbred affection I bear you. One
should never teach his letters or his lackev to lie.
I observe that rule, but besides my letters I could
wish there were a crystal casement in my breast,
through which you might behold the motions of
my heart : Utinamque oculos in pectore posses in-
cessercy then should you clearly see, without any
deception of sight, how truly I am, and how en-
tirely, yours, J. H.

27 of February 1625.

And to answer you in the same strain of verse
you sent me.

First, shall the heaven's bright lamp forget to shine.
The stars shall from the azured sky decline ;

3o8 FAMILIAR LETTERS

First, shall the Orient with the west shake hand.

The centre of the world shall cease to stand ;

First, wolves shall league with lambs, the dolphins fly.

The lawyer and physician fees deny.

The Thames with Tagus shall exchange her bed.

My mistress' locks with mine, shall first turn red ;

First, heaven shall lie below, and hell above.

Ere I inconstant to my Altham prove.

XII

To the Right Honourable my Lord of Carling-
ford J after Earl ofCarberry^ at Golden Grove ^
2%th May 1625

My Lord,

WE have gallant news now abroad, for we are
sure to have a new queen ere it be long.
Both the contract and marriage was lately sol-
emnised in France, the one the second of this
month in the Louvre, the other the eleventh day
following in the great Church of Paris, by the
Cardinal of Rochefoucauld. There was some clash-
ing betwixt him and the Archbishop of Paris, who
alleged it was his duty to officiate in that church,
but the dignity of cardinal and the quality of his
office, being the King's Great Almoner, which
makes him chief curate of the court, gave him the
prerogative. I doubt not but your lordship hath
heard of the capitulations, but for better assurance
I will run them over briefly.

OF JAMES HOWELL 309

The King of France obliged himself to procure
the dispensation. The marriage should be cele-
brated in the same form as that of Queen Marga-
ret and of the Duchess of Bar. Her dowry should
be 40,000 crowns, six shillings apiece, the one
moiety to be paid the day of the contract, the other
twelve months after. The Queen shall have a
chapel in all the King's royal houses and any-
where else where she shall reside within the
dominions of His Majesty of Great Britain, with
free exercise of the Roman religion, for herself,
her officers and all her household, for the celebra-
tion of the Mass, the predication of the word, ad-
ministration of the sacraments, and power to procure
indulgences from the Holy Father. That to this
end she shall be allowed twenty-eight priests or
ecclesiastics in her house and a bishop in quality
of Almoner, who shall have jurisdiction over all
the rest, and that none of the King's officers shall
have power over them, unless in case of treason.
Therefore all her ecclesiastics shall take the oath
of fidelity to His Majesty of Great Britain. There
shall be a cemetery or churchyard close about to
bury those of her family, that in consideration of
this marriage all English Catholics, as well eccle-
siastics as lay, which shall be in any prison merely
for religion, since the last edict shall be set at
liberty.

This is the eighth alliance we have had with
France since the Conquest, and as it is the best
that could be made in Christendom, so I hope it

3IO FAMILIAR LETTERS

will prove the happiest. — So I kiss your hands,
being your lordship's most humble servitor,

J. H.
London, March i, 1625.

XIII

To the Honourable Sir Tho. Sa.

I CONVERSED lately with a gentleman that
came from France, who- amongst other things,
discoursed much of the favourite Richelieu, who is
like to be an active man, and hath great designs.
The two first things he did was to- make sure of
England and the Hollander; he thinks to have
us safe enough by this marriage ; and Holland by
a late league, which was bought with a great sum of
money; for he hath furnished the States with a
million of livres at two shillings a piece in present,
and six hundred thousand livres every year of these
two that are to come; provided that the States
repay these sums two years after they are in peace
or truce. The King pressed much for liberty of
conscience to Roman Catholics amongst them, and
the deputies promised to do all they could with the
States General about it ; they articled likewise for
the French to be associated with them in the trade
to the Indies.

Monsieur is lately married to Mary of Bourbon,
the Duke of Monpensier's daughter. He told her
" That he would be a better husband than he had

OF JAMES HOWELL 311

been a suitor to her ; " for he hung off a good
while. This marriage was made by the King, and
Monsieur hath for his appenage 100,000 livres,
annual rent from Chartres and Blois, 100,000
livres pension, and 500,000 to be charged yearly
upon the general receipts of Orleans, in all about
^70,000. There was much ado before this match
could be brought about, for there were many op-
posers, and there be dark whispers that there was
a deep plot to confine the King to a monastery,
and that Monsieur should govern; and divers
great ones have suffered for it, and more are like
to be discovered. — So I take my leave for the pre-
sent, and rest, your humble and ready servitor,

J. H.
London, March 10, 1626.

XIV

To the Lady Jane Savage ^ Marchioness of

Winchester

Excellent Lady,

I MAY say of your Grace, as it was said once of
a rare Italian princess, that you are the greatest
tyrant in the world, because you make all those that
see you your slaves, much more them that know
you, I mean those that are acquainted with your
inward disposition, and with the faculties of your
soul, as well as the phisnomy of your face ; for

312 FAMILIAR LETTERS

Virtue took as much pains to adorn the one, as
Nature did to perfect the other. I have had the
happiness to know both, when your Grace took
pleasure to learn Spanish, at which time, when my
betters far had offered their service in this kind,
I had the honour to be commanded by you often.
He that hath as much experience of you as I have
had, will confess that the Handmaid of God Al-
mighty was never so prodigal of her gifts to any,
or laboured more to frame an exact model of fe-
male perfection ; nor was dame Nature only busied
in this work, but all the Graces did consult and
co-operate with her, and they wasted so much of
their treasure to enrich this one piece, that it may
be a good reason why so many lame and defective
fragments of women-kind are daily thrust into the
world.

I return you here enclosed the sonnet your
Grace pleased to send me lately, rendered into
Spanish, and fitted for the same air it had in
English, both for cadence and number of feet.
With it I send my most humble thanks, that
your Grace would descend to command me in
anything that might conduce to your contentment
and service ; for there is nothing I desire with a
greater ambition (and herein I have all the world
my rival) than to be accounted, Madame, your
Grace's most humble and ready servitor,

J. H.

London, March 15, 1626.

OF JAMES HOWELL 313

XV
To the Right Honourable the Lord Clifford

My Lord,

I PRAY be pleased to dispense with this slow-
ness of mine in answering yours of the first of
this present.

Touching the domestic occurrences, the gentle-
man who is bearer hereof is more capable to give
you account by discourse than I can in paper.

For foreign tidings your lordship may under-
stand that the town of Breda hath been a good
while making her last will and testament, but now
there is certain news come that she hath yielded up
the ghost to Spinola's hands after a tough siege
of thirteen months, and a circumvallation of near
upon twenty miles' compass.

My Lord of Southampton and his eldest son
sickened at the siege and died at Bergen. The
adventurous Earl Henry of Oxford, seeming to tax
the Prince of Orange with slackness to fight, was
set upon a desperate work, where he melted his
grease, and so being carried to the Hague he died
also. I doubt not but you have heard of Grave
Maurice's death, which happened when the town
was past cure, which was his more than the State's,
for he was Marquis of Breda, and had near upon
thirty thousand dollars annual rent from her;
therefore he seemed in a kind of sympathy to

314 FAMILIAR LETTERS

sicken with his town, and died before her. He
had provided plentifully for all his natural child-
ren ; but could not, though much importuned by
Doctor Roseus and other divines upon his death-
bed, be induced to make them legitimate by marry-
ing the mother of them, for the law there is, that
if one hath got children of any woman, though
unmarried to her, yet if he marry her never so
little before his death, he makes her honest and
them all legitimate. But it seems the prince post-
poned the love he bore to this woman and children
to that which he bore to his brother Henry, for
had he made the children legitimate, it had pre-
judiced the brother in point of command and for-
tunes. Yet he had provided very plentifully for
them and the mother.

Grave Henry hath succeeded him in all things,
and is a gallant gentleman of a French education
and temper. He charged him at his death to marry
a young lady, the Count of Solme's daughter, at-
tending the Queen of Bohemia, whom he had long
courted, which is thought will take speedy effect.

When the siege before Breda had grown hot.
Sir Edward Vere being one day attending Prince
Maurice, he pointed at a rising place called Ter-
hay, where the enemy had built a fort (which
might have been prevented) ; Sir Edward told
him he feared that fort would be the cause of the
loss of the town. The Grave spattered and shook
his head, saying, " It was the greatest error he
had committed since he knew what belonged to a

OF JAMES HOWELL 315

soldier, as also in managing the plot for surprising
of the citadel of Antwerp, for he repented that he
had not employed English and French in lieu of
the slow Dutch, who aimed to have the sole hon-
our of it, and were not so fit instruments for such
a nimble piece of service. As soon as Sir Charles
Morgan gave up the town, Spinola caused a new
gate to be erected, with this inscription in great
golden characters :

Philippo quarto regnante,
Clara Eugenia Isabella gubernante,
Ambrosio Spinola obsidente,
Quatuor Regibus contra conantibus.
Breda Capta fuit Idibus> etc.

It is thought that Spinola, now that he hath
recovered the honour he had lost before Berghen-
op-Zoom three years since, will not long stay in
Flanders, but retire.

No more now, but that I am resolved to continue
ever your lordship's most humble servitor,

J. H.

London, March 19, 1626.

XVI

To Mr R. Sc.y at York

I SENT you one of third current, but it was not
answered. I sent another of the thirteenth like
a second arrow to find out the first, but I know
not what 's become of either. I send this to find

3i6 FAMILIAR LETTERS

out the other two, and if this fail, there shall go no
more out of my quiver. If you forget me I have
cause to complain ; and more, if you remember
me. To forget may proceed from the frailty of
memory ; not to answer me when you mind me is
pure neglect, and no less than a piacle. — So I rest,
yours easily to be recovered, J. H.

Ira furor brevis, brevis est mea Iittera> cogor^
Ira correptus, corripubse stylum.

London, 19 of July ^ the first of
the Dog DaySy 1626

XVII
To Dr Fieldy Lord Bishop ofLandaff

My Lord,

I SEND you my humble thanks for those worthy
hospitable favours you were pleased to give me
at your lodgings in Westminster. I had yours of
the fifth of this present by the hand of Mr Jon-
athan Field. The news which fills every corner
of the town at this time is the sorry and unsuc-
cessful return that Wimbledon's fleet hath made
from Spain. It was a fleet that deserved to have
had a better destiny, considering the strength of
it, and the huge charge the Crown was at. For
besides a squadron of sixteen Hollanders, whereof
Count William, one of Prince Maurice's natural
sons, was admiral, there were above four score of

OF JAMES HOWELL 317

ours, the greatest joint naval power (of ships
without galleys) that ever spread sail upon salt
water, which makes the world abroad to stand
astonished how so huge a fleet could be so sud-
denly made ready. The sinking of the Long Robin
with 170 souls in her,, in the Bay of Biscay, ere
she had gone half the voyage was no good augury.
And the critics of the time say there were many
other things that promised no good fortune to this
fleet ; besides they would point at divers errors
committed in the conduct of the main design ;
first the odd choice that was made of the admiral,
who was a mere landman, which made the seamen
much slight him, it belonging properly to Sir
Robert Mansell, Vice- Admiral of England, to have
gone in case the high admiral went not. Then
they speak of the uncertainty of the enterprise,
and that no place was pitched upon to be invaded,
till they came to the height of the South Cape,
and in sight of shore, where the Lord Wimbledon
first called a council of war, wherein some would
be for Malaga, others for Saint Mary Port, others
for Gibraltar, but most for Calais ; and while they
were thus consulting the country had an alarm
given them. Add hereunto the blazing abroad of
this expedition ere the fleet went out of the Downs,
for Mercurius Gallobelgicus had it in print that
it was for the Straits mouth. Now it is a rule that
great designs of State should be mysteries till they
come to the very act of performance, and then
they should turn to exploits. Moreover, when the

3i8 FAMILIAR LETTERS

local attempt was resolved on, there were seven
ships (by the advice of one Captain Love) suffered
to go up the river which might have been easily
taken, and being rich, it is thought they would
have defrayed well-near the charge of our fleet,
which ships did much infest us afterwards with
their ordnance, when we had taken the Fort of
Puntall. Moreover, the disorderly carriage and
excess of our landmen (whereof there were 10,000)
when they were put ashore, who broke into the
Fryers Caves and other cellars of sweet wines,
where many hundreds of them being surprised
and found dead drunk, the Spaniards came and
tore off their ears and noses and plucked out their
eyes. And I was told of one merry fellow escap-
ing that killed an ass for a buck. Lastly, it is laid
to the admiral's charge that my Lord de la Ware's
ship being infected, he gave order that the sick
men should be scattered into divers ships, which
dispersed the contagion exceedingly, so that some
thousands died before the fleet returned, which
was done in a confused manner without any ob-
servance of sea orders. Yet I do not hear of any
that will be punished for these miscarriages, which
will make the dishonour fall more foully upon the
State. But the most unfortunate passage of all
was, that though we did nothing by land that was
considerable, yet if we had stayed but a day or two
longer, and spent time at sea, the whole fleet of gal-
leons from Nova Hispania had fallen into our own
mouths, which came presently in, close along the

OF JAMES HOWELL 319

coasts of Barbary, and in all likelihood we might
have had the opportunity to have taken the richest
prize that ever was taken on salt water. Add here-
unto, that while we were thus masters of those seas,
a fleet of fifty sail of Brazilmen got safe into Lis-
bon with four of the richest carracks that ever
came from the East Indies.

I hear my Lord of Saint David's is to be re-
moved to Bath and Wells, and it were worth your
lordship's coming up to endeavour the succeeding
of him. — So I humbly rest your lordship's most
ready servitor, J, H.

London, 20 November 1626.

XVIII

T^o my Lord Duke of Buckingham' s Grace at

Newmarket

MAY it please your Grace to peruse and par-
don these few advertisements which I would
not dare to present had I not hopes that the good-
ness which is concomitant with your greatness
would make them venial.

My lord, a Parliament is at hand ; the last was
boisterous, God grant that this may prove more
calm. A rumour runs that there are clouds already
engendered which will break out into a storm in
the lower region, and most of the drops are like
to fall upon your Grace. This, though it be but
vulgar astrology, is not altogether to be contemned.

320 FAMILIAR LETTERS

though I believe that His Majesty's countenance
reflecting so strongly upon your Grace, with the
brightness of your own innocency, may be able to
dispel and scatter them to nothing.

My lord, you are a great prince, and all eyes are
upon your actions ; this makes you more subject
to envy, which, like the sunbeams, beats always
upon rising grounds. I know your Grace hath
many sage and solid heads about you ; yet I trust
it will prove no oflfence if, out of the late relation
I have to your Grace by the recommendation of
such noble personages, I put in also my mite.

My lord, under favour, it were not amiss if your
Grace would be pleased to part with some of those
places you hold which have least relation to the
court, and it would take away the mutterings that
run of multiplicity of offices, and in my shallow
apprehension your Grace might stand more firm
without an anchor. The office of High Admiral
in these times of action requires one whole man to
execute it ; your Grace hath another sea of business
to wade through, and the voluntary resigning of
this office would fill all men, yea, even your ene-
mies, with admiration and aflfection, and make you
more a prince than detract from your greatness.
If any ill successes happen at sea (as that of the
Lord Wimbledon's lately), or if there be any mur-
mur for pay, your Grace will be free from all im-
putations ; besides it will aflFord your Grace more
leisure to look into your own aflFairs, which lie
confused and unsettled. Lastly (which is not the

OF JAMES HOWELL 321

least thing), this act will be so plausible that it may
much advantage His Majesty in point of subsidy.

Secondly, it were expedient (under correction)
that your Grace would be pleased to allot some
set hours for audience and access of suitors, and it
would be less cumber to yourself and your serv-
ants, and give more content to the world, which
often mutters for difficulty of access.

Lastly, it were not amiss that your Grace would
settle a standing mansion-house and family, that
suitors may know whither to repair constantly, and
that your servants, every one in his place, might
know what belongs to his place, and attend accord-
ingly ; for though confiision in a great family carry
a kind of state with it, yet order and regularity
gains a greater opinion of virtue and wisdom. I
know your Grace doth not (nor needs not) affect
popularity. It is true that the. people's love is
the strongest citadel of a sovereign prince, but to
a great subject it hath often proved fatal ; for he
who pulleth off his hat to the people giveth his
head to the prince ; and it is remarkable what was
said of a late unfortunate earl, who a little before
Queen Elizabeth's death had drawn the axe upon
his own neck, " that he was grown so popular that
he was too dangerous for the times, and the times
for him."

My lord, now that your Grace is threatened to
be heaved at, it should behove every one that
oweth you duty and good will to reach out his
hand some way or other to serve you. Amongst

322 FAMILIAR LETTERS

these, I am one that presumes to do it, in this poor
impertinent paper; for which I implore pardon,
because I am, my lord, your Grace's most humble
and faithful servant, J. H.

London, 13 February i626,

XIX

ro Sir J. 5., Knight

THERE is a saying which carrieth no little
weight with it, that "parvus amor loquitur,
ingens stupet " (small love speaks, whilst great love
stands astonished with silence). The one keeps
a-tattling, while the other is struck dumb with
amazement; like deep rivers, which to the eye of
the beholder seem to stand still, while small shallow
rivulets keep a noise ; or like empty casks that
make an obstreperous hollow sound, which they
would not do were they replenished and full of
substance. It is the condition of my love to you,
which is so great, and of that profoundness, that it
hath been silent all this while, being stupefied with
the contemplation of those high favours, and sun-
dry sorts of civilities, wherewith I may say you
have overwhelmed me. This deep ford of my
affection and gratitude to you I intend to cut out
hereafter into small currents (Imean into letters),
that the course of it may be heard, though it make
but a small bubbling noise, as also that the clear-
ness of it may appear more visible.

OF JAMES HOWELL 323

I desire my service be presented to my noble
lady, whose fair hands I humbly kiss ; and if she
want anything that London can afford, she need
but command her and your most faithful and ready
servitor, J. H.

London, 11 February 1626.

XX

To the Right Honourable the Earl R.

My Lord,

ACCORDING to promise, and that portion of
obedience I owe to your commands, I send
your lordship these few avisos, some whereof I
doubt not but you have received before, and that
by abler pens than mine ; yet your lordship may
happily find herein something which was omitted
by others, or the former news made clearer by
circumstance.

I hear Count Mansfelt is in Paris, having now
received three routings in Germany ; it is thought
the French king will piece him up again with new
recruits. I was told that, as he was seeing the two
queens one day at dinner, the queen-mother said,
" They say Count Mansfelt is here amongst this
crowd." "I do not believe it," quoth the young
queen, " for whensoever he seeth a Spaniard he
runs away."

Matters go untowardly on our side in Germany,
but the King of Denmark will be shortly in the

324 FAMILIAR LETTERS

field in person ; and Bethlem Gabor hath been long
expected to do something, but some think he will
prove but a bugbear. Sir Charles Morgan is to
go to Germany with 6cxx> auxiliaries to join with
the Danish army.

The Parliament is adjourned to Oxford, by
reason of the sickness which increaseth exceed-
ingly ; and before the King went out of town there
died i5cx> that very week, and two out of White-
hall itself.

There is high clashing again betwixt my lord
duke and the Earl of Bristol ; they recriminate
one another of divers things. The earl accuseth
him, amongst other matters, of certain letters from
Rome ; of putting His Majesty upon that hazard-
ous journey to Spain, and of some miscarriages
at his being in that court. There be articles also
against the Lord Conway, which I send your lord-
ship here enclosed.

I am for Oxford the next week, and thence for
Wales, to fetch my good old father's blessing : at
my return, if it shall please God to reprieve me
in these dangerous times of contagion, I shall
continue my wonted service to your lordship, if
it may be done with safety ; so I rest, your lord-
ship's most humble servitor,

J. H.

London, 15 of March 1626.

OF JAMES HOWELL 325

XXI

To the Honourable the Lord Viscount C.

My Lord,

SIR JOHN NORTH delivered me one lately
from your lordship, and I send my humble
thanks for the venison you intend me. I ac-
quainted your lordship, as opportunity served,
with the nimble pace the French match went on
by the successful negotiation of the Earls of Car-
lisle and Holland (who outwent the monsieurs
themselves in courtship), and how in less than
nine moons this great business was proposed,
pursued, and perfected, whereas the sun had
leisure enough to finish his annual progress from
one end of the Zodiac to the other so many years
before that of Spain could come to any shape of
perfection. This may serve to show the difference
betwixt the two nations, the leaden-heeled pace of
the one and the quicksilvered motions of the other.
It shows also how the French is more generous
in his proceedings, and not so full of scruples, reser-
vations and jealousies as the Spaniard, but deals

more frankly, and with a greater confidence and
gallantry.

The Lord Duke of Buckingham is now in Paris,
accompanied with the Earl of Montgomery, and
he went in a very splendid equipage. The Vene-
tian and Hollander, with other States that are no

326 FAMILIAR LETTERS

friends to Spain, did some good offices to advance
this alliance, and the new Pope propounded much
towards it ; but Richelieu, the new favourite of
France, was the cardinal instrument in it.

This Pope Urban grows very active, not only
in things present, but ripping up of old matters,
for which there is a select committee appointed to
examine accounts and errors passed, not only in
the time of his immediate predecessor, but others.
And one told me of a merry pasquil lately in
Rome, that whereas there are two great statues,
one of Peter, the other of Paul, opposite one to
the other upon a bridge, one had clapt a pair of
spurs upon St Peter's heels, and St Paul asking
him whither he was bound, he answered, " I ap-
prehend some danger to stay now in Rome, be-
cause of this new commission, for I fear they will
question me for denying my Master." "Truly,
brother Peter, I shall not stay long after you,
for I have as much cause to doubt that they will
question me for persecuting the Christians be-
fore I was converted." — So I take my leave, and
rest, your lordship's most humble servitor,

J. H.

London, 3 May 1626.

OF JAMES HOWELL 327

XXII

To my Brother y Master Hugh Penry

I THANK you for your late letter, and the
several good tidings sent me from Wales. In
requital I can send you gallant news, for we have
now a most noble new Queen of England, who in
true beauty is beyond the long-wooed Infanta, for
she was of a fading flaxen hair, big-lipped, and
somewhat heavy eyed ; but this daughter of France,
this youngest branch of Bourbon (being but in her
cradle when the great Henry her father was put out
of the world), is of a more lovely and lasting com-
plexion, a dark brown ; she hath eyes that sparkle
like stars, and for her physiognomy she may be said
to be a mirror of perfection. She had a rough pass-
age in her transfretation to Dover Castle, and in
Canterbury the King bedded first with her. There
were a goodly train of choice ladies attended her
comingupon the bowling-green on Barham Downs,
upon the way, who divided themselves into two
rows, and they appeared like so many constella-
tions ; but methought that the country ladies out-
shined the courtiers. She brought over with her two
hundred thousand crowns in gold and silver as half
her portion, and the other moiety is to be paid at
the year's end. Her first suite of servants (by ar-
ticle) are to be French, and as they die English are
to succeed. She is also allowed twenty-eight eccle-

328 FAMILIAR LETTERS

siastics of any order except Jesuits, a bishop for her
almoner, and to have private exercise of her relig-
ion for her and her servants.

I pray convey the enclosed to my father by the
next conveniency, and pray present my dear love
to my sister. I hope to see you at Dyvinnock
about Michaelmas, for I intend to wait upon my
father, and will take my mother in the way ; I mean
Oxford. In the interim I rest your most affection-
ate brother, J. H.

London, i6 May 1626.

XXIII

To my Uncle y Sir Sackville Trevor ; from

Oxford

I AM sorry I must write unto you the sad tidings
of the dissolution of the Parliament here, which
was done suddenly. Sir John Elliot was in the heat
of a high speech against the Duke of Buckingham,
when the Usher of the Black-Rod knocked at the
door and signified the King's pleasure, which struck
a kind of consternation in all the house. My Lord
Keeper Williams hath parted with the broad seal,
because, as some say, he went about to cut down
the scale by which he rose; for some, it seems, did
ill offices betwixt the duke and him. Sir Thomas
Coventry hath it now. I pray God he be tender of
the King's conscience, whereof he is keeper, rather
than of the seal.

OF JAMES HOWELL 329

I am bound to-morrow upon a journey towards
the mountains to see some friends in Wales, and
to bring back my father's blessing. For better
assurance of lodging where I pass, in regard of
the plague, I have a post warrant as far as Saint
David's, which is far enough you '11 say, for the
King hath no ground further on this island. If
the sickness rage in such extremity at London,
the term will be held at Reading.

All your friends here are well, but many look
blank because of this sudden rupture of the Parlia-
ment. God Almighty turn all to the best, and stay
the fury of this contagion, and preserve us from
further judgments ; so I rest your most affectionate
nephew, J. H.

Oxford, 6 August 1626.

XXIV

To my Father ; from London

I WAS now the fourth time at a dead stand in
the course of my fortunes ; for though I was
recommended to the duke and received many
noble respects from him, yet I was told by some
who are nearest him that somebody hath done me
ill offices by whispering in his ear that I was too
much Digbyfied, and so they told me positively
that I must never expect any employment about
him of any trust. While I was in this suspense,
Mr Secretary Conway sent for me and proposed

330 FAMILIAR LETTERS

unto me that the King had occasion to send a gen-
tleman to Italy in nature of a moving agent, and
though he might have choice of persons of good
quality that would willingly undertake this em-
ployment, yet understanding of my breeding he
made the first proffer to me, and that I should go
as the King's servant and have allowance accord-
ingly. I humbly thanked him for the good opin-
ion he pleased to conceive of me being a stranger
to him, and desired some time to consider of the
proposition and of the nature of the employ-
ment ; so he granted me four days to think upon
it, and two of them are passed already. If I may
have a support accordingly, I intend by God's
Grace (desiring your consent and blessing to go
along), to apply myself to this course ; but before
I part with England I intend to send you further
notice.

The sickness is miraculously decreased in this
city and suburbs, for from 5200, which was the
greatest number that died in one week, and that
was some forty days since, they are now fallen to
300. It was the violentest fit of contagion that ever
was for the time in this island, and such as no story
can parallel, but the ebb of it was more swift than
the tide. My brother is well, and so are all your
friends here, for I do not know of any of your ac-
quaintance that 's dead of this furious infection. Sir
John Walter asked me lately how you did, and
wished me to remember him to you. — So with my
love to all my brothers and sisters, and the rest of

OF JAMES HOWELL 331

my friends which made so much of me lately in the
country, I rest your dutiful son, J. H.

London, 7 August 1626.

XXV

To the Right Honourable the Lord Conway^
Principal Secretary of State to His Maj-
esty at Hampton Court

Right Honourable,

SINCE I last attended your lordship here, I
summoned my thoughts to council and can-
vassed- to and fro within myself the business you
pleased to impart unto me for going upon the
King's service to Italy. I considered therein many
particulars : First, the weight of the employment,
and what maturity of judgment, discretion, and
parts are required in him that will personate such
a man ; next, the difficulties of it, for one must
send sometimes light out of darkness, and like the
bee suck honey out of bad as out of good flowers ;
thirdly, the danger which the undertaker must
converse withal, and which may fall upon him by
interception of letters or other cross casualties ;
lastly, the great expense it will require, being not
to remain sedentary in one place, as other agents,
but to be often in itinerary motion.

Touching the first, I refer myself to your hon-
our's favourable opinion and the character which

33^ FAMILIAR LETTERS

my Lord S. and others shall give of me ; for the
second, I hope to overcome it ; for the third, I
weigh it not, so that I may merit of my king and
country; for the last, I crave leave to deal plainly
with your lordship that I am a cadet, and have
no other patrimony or support but my breeding,
therefore I must breathe by the employment.
And, my lord, I shall not be able to perform what
shall be expected at my hands under one hundred
pounds a quarter, and to have bills of credit accord-
ing. Upon these terms, my lord, I shall apply
myself to this service, and by God*s blessing hope
to answer all expectations. — So referring the
pemises to your noble consideration, I rest, my
lord, your very humble and ready servitor,

J. H.

London, September 8, 1626.

XXVI

T(9 my Brother^ Dr Howell^ after Bishop of

Bristol

My Brother,

NEXT to my father, it is fitting you should
have cognisance of my affairs and fortunes.
You heard how I was in agitation for an employ-
ment in Italy, but my Lord Conway demurred upon
the salary I propounded. I have now waived this
course. Yet I came off fairly with my lord ; for I

OF JAMES HOWELL ^33

have a stable home employment proffered me by
my Lord Scroop, Lord President of the North,
who sent for me lately to Worcester House, though
I never saw him before, and there the bargain was
quickly made that I should go down with him to
York for secretary, and his lordship hath promised
me fairly. I will see you at your house in Horsley
before I go, and leave the particular circumstances
of this business till then.

The French that came over with Her Majesty,

for their petulancy and some misdemeanours, and

imposing some odd penances upon the Queen, are

all cashiered this week, about a matter of six score,

whereof the Bishop of Mende was one, who had

stood to be steward of Her Majesty's courts, which

office my Lord of Holland hath. It was a thing

suddenly done, for about one of the clock, as they

were at dinner, my Lord Conway and Sir Thomas

m the King that

erset House, for

laying for them;

their wages paid

ist be content to

undreamed of

o them all, both

complain to the

;r before into his

upon them until

, The Queen fell

ass windows, and

afterwards. Just

334 FAMILIAR LETTERS

such a destiny happened in France some years since
to the Queen's Spanish servants there, who were all
dismissed in like manner for some miscarriages.
The like was done in Spain to the French, there-
fore it is no new thing.

They are all now on their way to Dover ; but
I fear this will breed ill-blood betwixt us and
France, and may break out into an ill-favoured
quarrel.

Master Montague is preparing to go to Paris as
a messenger of honour, to prepossess the King and
Council there with the truth of things.

So with my very kind respects to my sister, I
rest your loving brother, J. H.

London, 15 March 1626.

XXVII

To the Right Honourable the Lord S.

My Lord,

I AM bound shortly for York, where I am
hopeful of a profitable employment. There is
fearful news come from Germany, that since Sir
Charles Morgan went thither with 6000 men for the
assistance of the King of Denmark, the King hath
received an utter overthrow by Tilly. He had
received a fall off a horse from a wall five yards
high a little before, yet it did him little hurt.

Tilly pursueth his victory strongly, and is got
over the Elbe to Holsteinland, insomuch that they

OF JAMES HOWELL 335

write from Hamburg that Denmark is in danger
to be utterly lost. The Danes and Germans seem
to lay some fault upon our King, the King upon
the Parliament that would not supply him with
subsidies to assist his uncle and the Prince Pals-
grave, both which was promised upon the rupture
of the treaties with Spain, which was done by the
advice of both Houses.

This is the ground that His Majesty hath lately
sent out privy seals for loan moneys until a Par-
liament may be called, in regard that the King of
Denmark is distressed, the Sound like to be lost,
the Eastland trade and the staple at Hamburg
in danger to be destroyed, and the English garri-
son under Sir Charles Morgan at Stoad ready to be
starved.

These loan-moneys keep a great" noise, and they
are imprisoned that deny to conform themselves.

I fear I shall have no more opportunity to send
to your lordship till I go to York, therefore I
humbly take my leave, and kiss your hands, being
ever, my lord, your obedient and ready servitor,

J. H.

xxvni

To Mr R. Z/., Merchant

I MET lately with J. Harris in London, and I
had not seen him two years before, and then
I took him, and knew him to be a man of thirty,
but now one would take him by his hair to be near

336 FAMILIAR LETTERS

threescore, for he is all turned gray. I wondered at
such a metamorphosis in so short a time. He told
me it was for the death of his wife that nature had
thus antedated his years. It is true that a weighty
settled sorrow is of that force that, besides the
contradiction of the spirits, it will work upon the
radical moisture, and dry it up, so that the hair
can have no moisture at the root. This made me
remember a story that a Spanish advocate told me,
which is a thing very remarkable.

When the Duke of Alva was in Brussels, about
the beginning of the tumults in the Netherlands,
he had sat down before Hulst in Flanders, and
there was a provost-marshal in his army, who was
a favourite of his, and this provost had put some
to death by secret commission from the duke.
There was one Captain Bolea in the army, who was
an intimate friend of the provost's, and one even-
ing late he went to the said captain's tent, and
brought with him a confessor and an executioner,
as it was his custom. He told the captain that he
was come to execute his excellency's commission
and martial law upon him. The captain started up
suddenly, his hair standing at an end, and being
struck with amazement, asked him wherein he had
offended the duke. The provost answered. Sir, I
come not to expostulate the business with you, but
to execute my commission. Therefore I pray pre-
pare yourself, for there 's your ghostly father and
executioner. So he fell on his knees before the
priest, and having done, the hangman going to put

J"

OF JAMES HOWELL 337

the halter about his neck the provost threw it away,
and breaking into a laughter told him there was no
such thing, and that he had done this to try his
courage, how he could bear the terror of death.
The captain looked ghastly upon him, and said.
Then, sir, get you out of my tent, for you have
done me a very ill office. The next morning the
said Captain Bolea, though a young man of about
thirty, had his hair all turned gray, to the admira-
tion of all the world and of the Duke of Alva him-
self, who questioned him about it, but he would
confess nothing. The next year the duke was re-
voked, and in his journey to the court of Spain he
was to pass by Saragossa, and this Captain Bolea
and the provost went along with him as his domes-
tics. The duke being to repose some days in Sara-
gossa the young-old Captain Bolea told him that
there was a thing in that town worthy to be seen
by his excellency, which was a casa de locos, a
bedlam-house, for there was not the like in Christ-
endom. Well, said the duke, go and tell the warden
I will be there to-morrow in the afternoon, and wish
him to be in the way. The captain having obtained
this went to the warden and told him that the duke
would come to visit the house the next day, and
the chiefest occasion that moved him to it was that
he had an unruly provost about him who was sub-
ject oftentimes to fits of frenzy, and because he
wisheth him well he had tried divers means to cure
him, but all would not do, therefore he would try
whether keeping him close in Bedlam for some

338 FAMILIAR LETTERS

days would do him any good. The next day the
duke came with a ruffling train of captains after
him, amongst whom was the said provost, very
shining brave ; being entered into the house about
the duke's person, Captain Bolea told the warden,
pointing at the provost, that 's the man. So he took
him aside into a dark lobby, where he had placed
some of his men, who muffled him in his cloak,
seized upon his gilt sword with his hat and feather,
and so hurried him down into a dungeon. My pro-
vost had lain there t.wo nights and a day, and after-
wards it happened that a gentleman coming out of
curiosity to see the house peeped in at a small grate
where the provost was. The provost conjured him,
as he was a Christian, to go and tell the Duke of
Alva his provost was there clapped up, nor could
he imagine why. The gentleman did the errand,
whereat the duke, being astonished, sent for the
warden with his prisoner. So he brought my pro-
vost, en cuerpo madman-like, full of straws and
feathers before the duke, who at the sight of him,
breaking out into laughter, asked the warden why
he had made him his prisoner. Sir, said the warden,
it was by virtue of your excellency's commission
brought me by Captain Bolea. Bolea stepped forth
and told the duke. Sir, you have asked me oft
how these hairs of mine grew so suddenly gray. I
have not revealed it yet to any soul breathing, but
now I '11 tell your excellency, and so fell a-relating
the passage in Flanders. And, sir, I have been
ever since beating my brains how to get an equal

OF JAMES HOWELL 339

revenge of him ; and I thought no revenge to be
more equal or corresponding, now that you see he
hath made me old before my time, than to make
him mad if I could, and had he stayed some days
longer close prisoner in the bedlam-house, it might
haply have wrought some impressions upon his
pericranium. The duke was so well pleased with
the story, and the wittiness of the revenge, that he
made them both friends ; and the gentleman who
told me this passage said that the said Captain
Bolea was yet alive, so that he could not be less
than ninety years of age.

I thank you a thousand times for the Cepha-
lonia Muscadel and Botargo you sent me ; I hope
to be shortly quit with you for all courtesies ; in
the interim I am your obliged friend to serve you,

J. H.

York, this i May 1626.

Postscript

I AM sorry to hear of the trick that Sir John
Ayres put upon the company by the box of
hailshot, signed with the ambassador's seal, that he
had sent so solemnly from Constantinople, which
he made the world believe to be full of chequins
and Turkey gold.

EPISTOLiE HO-ELIANiE

SECTION V

SECTION V

I

To Dan Caldwallj Esq. ; from York

My Dear D.,

THOUGH I may be termed a right Northern
man, being a good way this side Trent, yet
my love is as Southern as ever it was ; I mean it
continueth still in the same degree of heat, nor
can this bleaker air orboreas' chilling blasts cool it
a whit. I am the same to you this side Trent as
I was the last time we crossed the Thames together
to see Smug the smith, and so back to the still-
yard ; but I fear that your love to me doth not
continue in so constant and intense a degree, and
I have good grounds for this fear, because I never
received one syllable from you since I left London.
If you rid me not of this scruple, and send to
me speedily, I shall think, though you live under
a hotter clime in the South, that your former love
is not only cooled, but frozen.

For this present condition of life, I thank God,
I live well contented. I have a fee from the King,
diet for myself and two servants, livery for a horse,
and a part of the King's house for my lodging, and
other privileges which I api told no secretary
before me had; but I must tell you the perquisites

344 FAMILIAR LETTERS

are nothing answerable to my expectation yet. I
have built me a new study since I came, wherein
I shall amongst others meditate sometimes on you
and whence this present letter comes. So with
a thousand thanks for the plentiful hospitality and
jovial farewell you gave me at your house in Es-
sex, I rest yours, yours, yours, J. H.

York, 13 July 1627.

II

T^o Mr Richard Leat

SIGN OR mio, it is now a great while methinks
since any act of friendship, or other inter-
changeable offices of love hath passed between us,
either by letters or other accustomed ways of cor-
respondence ; and as I will not accuse, so I go not
about to clear myself in this point, let this long
silence be termed therefore a cessation rather than
neglect on both sides. A bow that lies a while un-
bent, and a field that remains fallow for a time, grow
never the worse, but afterwards the one sends forth
an arrow more strongly, the other yields a better
crop being recultivated. Let this be also verified
in us, let our friendship grow more fruitful after
this pause, let it be more active for the future.
You see I begin and shoot the first shaft. I send
you herewith a couple of red deer pies, the one Sir
Arthur Ingram gave me, the other my Lord Presi-
dent's cook ; I could not tell where to bestow

OF JAMES HOWELL 345

them better. In your next let me know which is
the best seasoned. I pray let the Sydonian mer-
chant, J. Bruckhurst, be at the eating of them, and
then I know they will be well soaked. If you
please to send me a barrel or two of oysters, which
we want here, I promise you they shall be well
eaten with a cup of the best claret and the best
sherry, to which wine this town is altogether ad-
dicted, shall not be wanting.

I understand the Lord Weston is Lord Treas-
urer, we may say now that we have treasurers of all
tenses, for there are four living, to wit, the Lords
Manchester, Middlesex, Marlborough, and the
newly-chosen. I hear also that the good old man
(the last) hath retired to his lodgings in Lincoln's
Inn, and so reduced himself to his first principles,
which makes me think that he cannot bear up long
now that the staff is taken from him. I pray in your
next send me the Venitian Gazette. — So with my
kind respects to your father, I rest yours,

J. H.

York, 9 July 1627.

Ill

T(9 5/r Ed. Sa., Knight

SI R, it was no great matter to be a prophet, and
to have foretold this rupture betwixt us and
France upon the sudden renvoy of Her Majesty's
servants, for many of them had sold their estates

346 FAMILIAR LETTERS

in France, given money for their places, and so
thought to live and die in England in the Queen's
service, and so have pitifully complained to that
king ; thereupon he hath arrested above lOO of
our merchantmen that went to the vintage at Bor-
deaux. We also take some stragglers of theirs, for
there are letters of mart given on both sides.

There are writs issued out for a Parliament, and
the town of Richmond in Richmondshire hath
made choice of me for their burgess, though Mas-
ter Christopher Wansfordand other powerful men,
and more deserving than I, stood for it. I pray
God send fair weather in the House of Commons,
for there is much murmuring about the restraint
of those that would not conform to loan-moneys.
There is a great fleet a-preparing and an army of
landmen, but the design is uncertain whether it be
against Spain or France, for we are now in enmity
with both those crowns. The French Cardinal
hath been lately to the other side the Alps, and set-
tled the Duke of Nevers in the Dutchy of Man-
tua, notwithstanding the opposition of the King of
Spain and the Emperor, who alleged that he was to
receive his investiture from him, and that was the
chief ground of the war ; but the French arms
have done the work, and come triumphantly back
over the hills again. — No more now, but that I
am as always your true friend, J. H.

March 2, 1627.

OF JAMES HOWELL 347

IV

To the Worshipful Mr Alderman of the town
of Richmond, and the rest of the worthy mem-
hers of that ancient corporation.

I RECEIVED a public instrument from you
lately, subscribed by yourself, and divers others,
wherein I find that you have made choice of me to
be one of your burgesses for this now near-ap-
proaching Parliament. I could have wished that
you had not put by Master Wandesford and other
worthy gentlemen that stood so earnestly for it,
who being your neighbours had better means and
more abilities to serve you. Yet since you have
cast these high respects upon me, I will endeavour
to acquit myself of the trust, and to answer your
expectation accordingly ; and as I account this
election an honour unto me, so I esteem it a great
advantage that so worthy and well-experienced
a knight as Sir Talbot Bows is to be my colleague
and fellow-burgess. I shall steer by his compass
and follow his directions in anything that may con-
cern the welfare of your town and of the precincts
thereof, either for redress of any grievance or by
proposing some new thing that may conduce to
the further benefit and advantage thereof, and this
I take to be the true duty of a Parliamentary bur-
gess, without roving at random to generals. I hope
to learn of Sir Talbot what 's fitting to be done,

348 FAMILIAR LETTERS

and I shall apply myself accordingly to join with
him to serve you with my best abilities. — So I rest,
your most assured and ready friend to do you
service, J. H.

London, March 24, 1627.

To the Right Honourable the Lord Clifford at

Knaresborough

My Lord,

THE news that fills all mouths at present is
the return of the Duke of Buckingham from
the Isle of Ree, or, as some call it, the Isle of Rue,
for the bitter success we had there; for we had
but a tart entertainment in that salt island. Our
first invasion was magnanimous and brave, whereat
near upon 200 French gentlemen perished, and
divers barons of quality. My Lord Newport had
ill luck to disorder our cavalry with an unruly
horse he had. His brother. Sir Charles Rich, was
slain, and divers more upon the retreat. Amongst
others great Colonel Gray fell into a salt pit, and
being ready to be drowned, he cried out. Cent
mille escus pour ma ranfony " A hundred thousand
crowns for my ransom." The Frenchmen, hearing
that, preserved him, though he was not worth a
hundred thousand pence. Another merry passage
a captain told me, that when they were rifling the
dead bodies of the French gentlemen after the first

OF JAMES HOWELL 349

invasion, they found that many of them had their
mistress's favours tied about their genitories. The
French do much glory to have repelled us thus,
and they have reason, for the truth is they com-
ported themselves gallantly, yet they confess our
landing was a notable piece of courage, and if our
retreat had been answerable to the invasion, we had
lost no honour at all. A great number of gallant
gentlemen fell on our side, as Sir John Heydon,
Sir John Burrowes, Sir George Blundel, Sir Alex.
Bret, with divers veteran commanders who came
from the Netherlaods to this service.

God send us better success the next time, for
there is another fleet preparing to be sent under
the command of the Lord Denbigh. — So I kiss
your hand, and am your humble servitor,

J.H.

London, i\ of September 1627.

VI

Ti? the Right Honourable the Lord Scroops Earl
of Sunderland^ Lord President of the North

My Lord,

MY Lord Denbigh is returned from attempt-
ing to relieve Rochelle, which is reduced to
extreme exigent ; and now the duke is preparing
to go again, with as great power as was yet raised,
notwithstanding that the Parliament hath flown
higher at him than ever, which makes the people

i

350 FAMILIAR LETTERS

here hardly wish any good success to the expedi-
tion, because he is general. The Spaniard stands
at a gaze all this while, hoping that we may do the
work, otherwise I think he would find some way
to relieve the town, for there is nothing conduceth
more to the uniting and strengthening of the
French monarchy than the reduction of Rochelle.
The King hath been there long in person with his
cardinal, and the stupendous works they have raised
by sea and land are beyond belief, as they say. The
sea works and booms were traced out by Marquis
Spinola, as he was passing that, way for Spain from
Flanders.

The Parliament is prorogued till Michaelmas
term. There were five subsidies granted, the great-
est gift that ever subjects gave their king at once ;
and it was in requital that His Majesty passed the
Petition of Right, whereby the liberty of the free-
born subject is so strongly and clearly vindicated.
So that there is a fair correspondence like to be
betwixt His Majesty and the two Houses. The
duke made a notable speech at the council table
in joy hereof. Amongst other passages one was,
" That hereafter His Majesty would please to make
the Parliament his favpurite, and he to have the
honour to remain still his servant." No more now
but that I continue your lordship's most dutiful
servant, J. H,

London, 25 September 1628.

OF JAMES HOWELL 351

VII

To the Right Honourable the Lady Scroops
Countess of Sunderland; from Stamford

Madam,

I LAY yesternight at the post-house at Stilton,
and this morning betimes the postmaster came
to my bed's head and told me the Duke of Buck-
ingham was slain. My faith was not then strong
enough to believe it, till an hour ago I met in
the way with my Lord of Rutland (your brother)
riding post towards London. It pleased him to
alight and show me a letter, wherein there was
an exact relation of all the circumstances of this sad
tragedy.

Upon Saturday last, which was but next before
yesterday being Bartholomew eve, the duke did
rise up in a well-disposed humour out of his bed,
and cut a caper or two ; and being ready, and
having been under the barber's hands (where the
murderer had thought to have done the deed, for
he was leaning upon the window all the while), he
went to breakfast attended by a great company of
commanders, where Monsieur Soubize came unto
him, and whispered him in the ear that Rochelle
was relieved ; the duke seemed to slight the news,
which made some think that Soubize went away
discontented. After breakfast the duke going out.
Colonel Fryer stepped before him, and stopping

35^ FAMILIAR LETTERS

him upon some business, one Lieutenant Felton
being behind, made a thrust with a common ten-
penny knife over Fryer's arm at the duke, which
lighted so fatally, that he slit his heart in two, leav-
ing the knife sticking in the body. The duke took
out the knife and threw it away, and laying his
hand on his sword, and drawing it half out, said,
" The villain hath killed me *' (meaning, as some
think. Colonel Fryer), for there had been some
difference betwixt them, so reeling against a chim-
ney he fell down dead. The duchess being with
child, hearing the noise below, came in her night-
gears from her bedchamber, which was in an upper
room, to a kind of rail, and thence beheld him
weltering in his own blood. Felton had lost his
hat in the crowd, wherein there was a paper sowed,
wherein he declared that the reason which moved
him to this act was no grudge of his own, though
he had been far behind for his pay, and had been
put by his captain's place twice, but in regard he
thought the duke an enemy to the State, because
he was branded in Parliament, therefore what he
did was for the public good of his country. Yet
he got clearly down, and so might have gone to
his horse, which was tied to a hedge hard by ; but
he was so amazed that he missed his way, and so
struck into the pastry, where though the cry went
that some Frenchman had done it, he, thinking
the word was Felton, he boldly confessed it was he
that had done the deed, and so he was in their
hands. Jack Stamford would have run at him, bat

OF JAMES HOWELL 353

he was kept off by Mr Nicholas ; so being carried
up to a tower, Captain Mince tore off his spurs,
and asking, how he durst attempt such an act,
making him believe the duke was not dead, he
answered bdldly that he knew he was despatched,
for it was not he but the hand of heaven that gave
the stroke, and though his whole body had been
covered over with armour of proof he could not
have avoided it. Captain Charles Price went post
presently to the King four miles off, who being at
prayers on his knees when it was told him, yet he
never stirred, nor was he disturbed a whit till all
Divine service was done. This was the relation as
far as my memory could bear, in my Lord of Rut-
land's letter, who willed me to remember him unto
your ladyship, and tell you that he was going to
comfort your niece (the duchess) as fast as he
could. And so I have sent the truth of this sad
story to your ladyship as fast as I could by this
post, because I cannot make that speed myself, in
regard of some business I have to despatch for my
lord in the way. — So I humbly take my leave,
and rest your ladyship's most dutiful servant,

J. H,

Stamford, August 5, 1628.

354 FAMILIAR LETTERS

VIII

To the Right Honourable Sir Peter Wichts^
His Majesty's Ambassador at Cdmtantinople

My Lord,

YOURS of the 2nd of July came to safe hand,
and I did all those particulars recandos you
enjoined me to do to some of your friends here.

The town of Rochelle hath been fatal and un-
fortunate to England, for this is the third time that
we have attempted to relieve her, but our fleets and
forces returned without doing anything. My Lord
of Lindsey went thither with the same fleet the
duke intended to go on, but he is returned with-
out doing any good. He made some shots at the
great boom and other barricades at sea, but at such
a distance that they could do no hurt, insomuch
that the town is now given for lost and to be past
cure, and they cry out we have betrayed them. At
the return of this fleet two of the whelps were cast
away, and three ships more, and some five ships
who had some of those great stones that were
brought to build St Paul's, for ballast and for other
uses, within them, which could promise no good
success, for I never heard of anything that pros-
pered which being once designed for the honour of
God was alienated from that use. The Queen in-
terposeth for the releasement of my Lord of New-
port and others who are prisoners of war. I hear

OF JAMES HOWELL 355

that all the colours they took from us are hung up
in the great church of Notre Dame as trophies in
Paris. Since I began this letter there is news
brought that Rochelle hath yielded, and that the
King hath dismantled the town, and razed all the
fortifications landward, but leaves those standing
which are toward the sea. It is a mighty exploit
the French King hath done, for Rochelle was the
chiefest propugnation of the Protestants there, and
now questionless all the rest of their cautionary
towns which they kept for their own defence will
yield, so that they must depend hereafter upon the
King's mere mercy. I hear of an overture of peace
betwixt us and Spain, and that my Lord Cotting-
ton is to go thither and Don Carlos Coloma to
come to us. God grant it, for you know the saying
in Spanish, " Nunca vi tan mala paz, que no fuera
mejor, que la mejor guerra." It was a bold thing
in England to fall out with the two greatest mon-
archs of Christendom, and to have them both her
enemies at one time, and as glorious a thing it was
to bear up against them. God turn all to the best,
and dispose of things to His glory. — So I rest
your lordship's ready servitor,

J. H.

London, i September 1628.

356 FAMILIAR LETTERS

IX

To my Cousin^ Mr St Geon^ at Christ Church

College in Oxford

Cousin,

THOUGH you want no incitements to go on
in that fair road of virtue where you are now
running your course, yet being lately in your noble
father's company, he did intimate unto me that
anything which came from me would take with you
very much. I hear so well of your proceedings
that I should rather commend than encourage you.
I know you were removed to Oxford in full matu-
rity. You were a good orator, a good poet, and a
good linguist for your time. I would not have that
fate light upon you, which useth to befall some,
who from golden students become silver bachelors
and leaden masters. I am far from entertaining
any such thought of you, that logic with her quid-
dities and ^ae la vel Hipps can any way unpolish
your humane studies. As logic is clubfisted and
crabbed, so she is terrible at first sight. She is like
a gorgon's head to a young student, but after a
twelve months' constancy and patience this Gor-
gon's head will prove a mere bugbear. When you
have devoured the Organon you will find philo-
sophy far more delightful and pleasing to your
palate.- In feeding the soul with knowledge the
understanding requireth the same consecutive acts

OF JAMES HOWELL 357

which nature useth in nourishing the body. To
the nutrition of the body there are two essential
conditions required, assumption and retention.
Then there follows two more 7re/rt9 and Tr/Joo-rai/ft?,
Concoction and Agglutination or adhesion. So in
feeding your soul with science, you must first as-
sume and suck in the matter into your apprehen-
sion, then must the memory retain and keep it in,
afterwards by disputation, discourse and medita-
tion. It must be well concocted, then must it be
agglutinated and converted to nutriment. All this
may be reduced to these two heads, tenerifideliter^
fcf uti fae licit eTy which are two of the happiest pro-
perties in a student. There is another act required
to good concoction called the act of expulsion,
which puts off all that is unsound and noxious, so
in study there must be an expulsive virtue to shun
all that is erroneous, and there is no science but is
full of such stuff, which by direction of tutor and
choice of good books must be excerned. Do not
confound yourself with multiplicity of authors ;
two is enough upon any science, provided they be
plenary and orthodox. Philosophy should be your
substantial food, poetry your banqueting stuff.
Philosophy hath more of reality in it than any
knowledge. The philosopher can fathom the deep,
measure mountains, reach the stars with a staff, and
bless heaven with a girdle.

But amongst these studies you must not forget
the unicum necessarium. On Sundays and holidays
let divinity be the sole object of your speculation.

IjS FAMILIAR LETTERS

in comparison whereof all other knowledge is but
cobweb learning, ^r^^ qui quisquiliae caetera.

When you can make truce with study, I should
be glad you would employ some superfluous hour
or other to write unto me, for I much covet your
good, because I am your afi^ectionate cousin,

J. H.

London, 25 October 1627.

X

To Sir Sackvil Trevor , Knight

Noble Uncle,

I SEND you my humble thanks for the curious
sea-chest of glasses you pleased to bestow on
me, which I shall be very chary to keep as a mon-
ument of your love. I congratulate also the great
honour you have got lately by taking away the
spirit of France ; I mean by taking the third great
vessel of her Sea-Trinity, her Holy Spirit^ which
had been built in the mouth of the Texel for the
service of her King. Without complimenting with
you, it was one of the best exploits that was per-
formed since these wars began ; and besides the
renown you have purchased, I hope your reward
will be accordingly from His Majesty, whom I re-
member you so happily preserved from drowning
in all probability at St Anderas Road in Spain.
Though princes' guerdons "come slow, yet they
come sure. And it is oftentimes the method of

OF JAMES HOWELL 359

God Almighty Himself to be long both in rfts
rewards and punishments.

As you have bereft me French of their Saint
Esprity their Holy Spirity so there is news that the
Hollander have taken from Spain all her saints ; I
mean Todos los santoSy which is one of the chiefest
staples of sugar in Brazil. No more but that I wish
you all health, honour, and heart's desire. Your
much obliged nephew and servitor, J. H.

London, 26 of October 1625.

XI

To Captain Tho. B.; from Tork

Noble Captain,

YOURS of the first of March was delivered
me by Sir Richard Scot, and I held it no pro-
fanation of this Sunday evening, considering the
quality of my subject, and having (I thank God
for it) performed all church duties, to employ some
hours to meditate on you, and send you this
friendly salute, though I confess in an unusual
monitory way. My dear captain, I love you per-
fectly well, I love both your person and parts which
are not vulgar. I am in love with your disposition,
which is generous, and I verily think you were
never guilty of any pusillanimous act in your life.
Nor is this love of mine conferred upon you gratis,
but you may challenge it as your due, and by way
of correspondence, in regard to those thousand

36o FAMILIAR LETTERS

convincing evidences you have given me of yours
to me, which ascertain me that you take me for
a true friend. Now I am of the number of those
that had rather commend the virtue of an enemy
than soothe the vices of a friend ; for your own
particular, if your parts of virtue and your infirm-
ities were cast into a balance, I know the first
would much out-poise the other ; yet give me
leave to tell you that there is one frailty, or rather
ill-favoured custom, that reigns in you, which
weighs much : it is a humour of swearing in all your
discourses, and they are not slight, but deep, far-
fetched oaths that you are wont to rap out, which
you use as flowers of rhetoric to enforce a faith
upon the hearers, who believe you never the more,
and you use this in cold blood when you are not
provoked, which makes the humour far more dan-
gerous. I know many (and I cannot say I myself
am free from it, God forgive me) that, being trans-
ported with choler, and as it were made drunk
with passion by some sudden provoking accident,
or extreme ill-fortune at play, will let fall oaths
and deep protestations, but to belch out and send
forth as it were whole volleys of oaths and curses
in a calm humour, to verify every trivial discourse,
is a thing of horror. I knew a king that being
crossed in his game would amongst his oaths fall
on the ground and bite the very earth in the rough
of his passion. I heard of another king (Henry
the Fourth of France) that in his highest distem-
per would swear but ventre de Saint GriSy by the

OF JAMES HOWELL 361

belly of Saint Gris. I heard of an Italian that,
having been much accustomed to blaspheme, was
weaned from it by a pretty wile ; for having been
one night at play and lost all his money, after many
execrable oaths, and having offered money to an-
other to go out to face heaven and defy God, he
threw himself upon a bed hard by, and there fell
asleep. The other gamesters played on still, and
finding that he was fast asleep, they put put the
candles, and made semblance to play on still ; they
fell a-wrangling and spoke so loud that he awoke ;
he, hearing them play on still, fell a-rubbing his
eyes, and his conscience presently prompted him
that he was struck blind, and that God's judgment
had deservedly fallen down upon him for his blas-
phemies, and so he fell to sigh and weep pitifully.
A ghostly father was sent for, who undertook to
do some acts of penance for him, if he would make
a vow never to play again or blaspheme, which he
did, and so the candles were lighted again, which
•he thought were burning all the while ; so he be-
came a perfect convert. I could wish this letter
might produce the same effect in you. There is a
strong text that the curse of heaven hangs always
over the dwelling of the swearer, and you have
more fearful examples of miraculous judgments in
this particular than of any other sin.

There is a little town in Languedoc in France
that hath a multitude of the pictures of the Virgin
Mary up and down, but she is made to carry Christ
in her right hand, contrary to the ordinary custom ;

362 FAMILIAR LETTERS

and the reason they told me was this, that two
gamesters being at play, and one having lost all his
money, and bolted out many blasphemies, he gave
a deep oath that that whore upon the wall, mean-
ing the picture of the Blessed Virgin, was the cause
of his ill luck ; hereupon the child removed im-
perceptibly from the left arm to the right, and
the man fell stark dumb ever after it. Thus went
the tradition there. This makes me think upon the
Lady Southwel's news from Utopia, that he who
sweareth when he playeth at dice may challenge his
damnation by way of purchase. This infamous
custom of swearing I observe reigns in England
lately more than anywhere else, though a German
in his highest pufF of passion swears a hundred
thousand Sacraments, the Italian by the whore of
God, the French by his death, the Spaniard by his
flesh, the Welshman by his sweat, the Irishman by
his five wounds, though the Scot commonly bids
the devil heal his soul, yet for variety of oaths the
English roarers put down all. Consider well what
a dangerous thing it is to tear in pieces that dread-
ful name which makes the vast fabric of the world
to tremble, that holy name wherein the whole
hierarchy of heaven doth triumph, that blissful
name wherein consists the fulness of all felicity.
I know this custom in you yet is but a light dis-
position ; it is no habit I hope. Let me therefore
conjure you by that power of friendship, by that
holy league of love which is between us, that you
would suppress it before it come to that, for I must

OF JAMES HOWELL 363

tell you that those who could find in their hearts

to love you for many other things do disrespect

you for this ; they hate your company, and give ^i^ - ^^ <

no credit to whatsoever you say, it being one of/ '•mivfdsitY

the punishments of a swearer as well as of a liari of

not to be believed when he speaks truth. ^^^^i ^k'y ®. gj^g^

Excuse me that I am so free with you ; what .
I write proceeds from the clear current of a pure
affection, and I shall heartily thank you, and take
it for an argument of love, if you tell rhe of my
weaknesses, which are (God wot) too too many ;
for my body is but a cargazon of corrupt humours,
and being not able to overcome them all at once,
I do endeavour to do it by degrees, like Sertorius,
his soldier, who when he could not cut off the
horse tail with his sword at one blow, fell to pull
out the hairs one by one. And touching this par-
ticular humour from which I dissuade you, it hath
raged in me too often by contingent fits, but I
thank God for it I find it much abated and purged.
Now the only physic I used was a precedent fast,
and recourse to the Holy Sacrament the next day,
of purpose to implore pardon for what had passed,
and power for the future to quell those exorbitant
motions, those ravings and feverish fits of the
soul, in regard there are no infirmities more dan-
gerous, for at the same instant they have being
they become impieties. And the greatest symptom
of amendment I find in me is, because whensoever
I hear the holy name of God blasphemed by any
other, it makes my heart to tremble within my

364

FAMILIAR LETTERS

breast. Now It is a penitential rule, that if sins
present do not please thee, sins passed will not hurt
thee. All other sins have for their object either
pleasure or profit, or some aim and satisfaction to
body or mind, but this hath none at all, therefore
fie upon it, my dear captain, try whether you can
make a conquest of yourself in subduing this
execrable custom. Alexander subdued the world,
Csesar his enemies, Hercules monsters, but he that
overcomes himself is the true valiant captain. I
have herewith sent you a hymn consonant to this
subject, because I know you are musical and a
good poet.

A gradual Hymn of a double

of the Holy

1. Let the vast imivcne.
And therein everything.

The mighty acts rehearse
Of their immortal King,
His name extol
What to Nadir
From zenith stir
'Twixt pole and pole.

2. Ye elements that move.
And alter every hour.

Yet herein constant prove.

And symbolise all four.

His praise to tell.

Mix all in one.

For air and tone

To sound this peal.

cadence^ temHng to the Honour
Name of God

3. Earth which the centre art
And only standest still.

Yet move, and bear thy part;
Resound with echoes shrill.
Thy mines of gold.
With precious stones.
And unions.
His hmt uphold.

4. Let all thy fragrant flowers
Grow sweeter by this air.

Thy tallest trees and bowers
Bud forth and blossom faky
Beasts, wild and tame.
Whom lodgings yield
House, dens or field,
Collaud His name.

OF JAMES HOWELL

365

5. Ye seas with earth that make
One globe flow high and

swell.
Exalt your Maker's name.
In deep His wonders tell :
Leviathan,
And what doth swim.
Near bank or brim.
His glory scan.

6. Ye airy regions all
Join in a sweet consent.

Blow such a madrigal

May reach the firmament.
Winds, hail, ice, snow.
And pearly drops.
That hang on crops.
His wonders show.

7. Pure element of fire
With holy sparb inflame

This sublunary choir.

That all one concert frame.
Their spirits raise.
To trumpet forth
Their Maker's worth.
And sound His praise.

8. Ye glorious lamps that roll
In your celestial spheres

All under His control.

Who you on poles upbears.
Him magnify.
Ye planets bright.
And fixed lights
That deck the sky.

9. O Heaven, Crystalline,
Which by thy watery hue

Dost temper and refine
The rest in azured blue.
His glory sound
Thou first mobile
Which makest all wheel
In circle round.
•

10. Ye glorious souls who reign

In sempiternal joy.
Free fi-om those cares and pain
Which here did you annoy.
And Him behold
In whom all bliss
Concentred is.
His laud unfold.

1 1. Blest maid which dost sur-
mount
All saints and seraphims.
And reignest as paramount
And chief of cherubims.
Chant out His praise
Who in thy womb
Nine months took room
Though crowned with
rays,

1 2 . Oh let my soul and heart.

My mind and memory
Bear in this hymn a part.
And join with earth and sky.
Let every wight.
The whole world o'er
Laud and adore
The Lord of light.

366 FAMILIAR LETTERS

All your friends here are well, Tom Young
excepted, who I fear hath not long to live amongst
us. — So I rest your true friend, J. H.

York, fbe i of August 1628.

XII
To Will. Austin^ Esq.

I HAVE many thanks to give you for that ex-
cellent poem you sent me upon the passion
of Christ. Surely you were possessed with a very
strong spirit when you penned it; you were
become a true enthusiast. For, let me despair if
I lie unto you, all the while I was perusing it it
committed holy rapes upon my soul. Methought
I felt my heart melting within my breast, and my
thoughts transported to a true elysium all the while,
there were such flexanimous strong ravishing strains
throughout it. To deal plainly with you, it were
an injury to the public good not to expose to open
light such divine raptures, for they have an edifying
power in them, and may be termed the very quint-
essence of devotion. You discover in them what
rich talent you have, which should not be buried
within the walls of a private study, or pass through
a few particular hands, but appear in public view and
to the sight of the world, to the enriching of oth-
ers, as they did me in reading them. Therefore
I shall long to see them pass from the Bankside to
Paul's Churchyard, with other precious pieces of

OF JAMES HOWELL 367

yours which you have pleased to impart unto me.
— ^Your most affectionate servitor, J. H,

Oxford, 20 August 1628,

XIII
To Sir I. 5., Knight

YOU wrote to me lately for a footman, and I
think this bearer will suit you. I know he
can run well, for he hath run away twice from me,
but he knew the way back again ; yet though he
hath a running head as well as running heels (and
who will expect a footman to be a staid man ?) I
would not part with him were I not to go post to
the north. There be some things in him that
answer for his waggeries. He will come when you
call him, go when you bid him, and shut the door
after him. He is faithful and stout, and a lover
of his master. He is a great enemy to all dogs
if they bark at him in his running, for I have seen
him confront a huge mastiff and knock him down.
When you go a country journey, or have him run
with you a-hunting you must spirit him with liquor ;
you must allow him also something extraordinary
for socks, else you must not have him to wait at
your table ; when his grease melts in running hard
it is subject to fall into his toes. I send him you
but for trial. If he be not for your turn, turn him
over to me again when I come back.

The best news I can send you at this time is that

368 FAMILIAR LETTERS

we are like to have peace both with France and
Spain, so that Harwich men, your neighbours, shall
not hereafter need to fear the name of Spinola, who
struck such an apprehension into them lately that
I understand they begin to fortify.

I pray present my most humble service to my
good lady, and at my return from the North I will
be bold to kiss her hands and yours. — So I am,
your much obliged servitor, J. H.

London, 25 of May 1628.

XIV

T(9 my Father

OUR two younger brothers, which you sent
hither, are disposed of. My brother doctor
hath placed the elder of the two with Mr Hawes,
a mercer in Cheapside, and he took much pains
in it, and I had placed my brother Ned with Mr
Barrington, a silk-man in the same street, but
afterwards, for some inconveniences, I removed
him to one Mr Smith, at the Flower-de-Luce, in
Lombard Street, a mercer also. Their masters are
both of them very well to pass, and of good repute.
I think it will prove some advantage to them here-
after to be both of one trade, because when they
are out of their time they may join stocks together.
So that I hope, sir, they are as well placed as any
two youths in London, but you must not use to
send them such large tokens in money, for that

OF JAMES HOWELL 369

may corrupt them. When I went to bind my
brother Ned apprentice in Drapers' Hall, casting
my eyes upon the chimneypiece of the great room
I spied a picture of an ancient gentleman, and
underneath Thomas Howell. I asked the clerk
about him, and he told me that he had been a
Spanish merchant in Henry VHTs time, and
coming home rich, and dying a bachelor, he gave
that hall to the Company of Drapers, with other
things, so that he is accounted one of their chief-
est benefactors. I told the clerk that one of the
sons of Thomas Howell came now hither to be
bound. He answered that if he be a right Howell,
he may have when he is free three hundred pounds
to help to set up, and pay no interest for five
years. It may be hereafter we may make use of
this. He told me also that any maid that can prove
her father to be a true Howell may come and de-
mand fifty pounds towards her portion of the said
hall. I am to go post towards York to-morrow to
my charge, but hope, God willing, to be here again
the next term. — So, with my love to my brother

Howell, and my sister his wife, I rest your dutiful
son, J. H.

London, 30 September 1629.

370 FAMILIAR LETTERS

XV

To my Brother^ Dr Howell^ at Jesus Colkge^

in Oxon

BROTHER, I have sent you here enclosed
warrants for four brace of bucks and a stag,
the last Sir Arthur Man waring procured of the
King for you towards the keeping of your act. I
have sent you also a warrant for a brace of bucks
out of Waddon chase ; besides, you shall receive
by this carrier a great wicker hamper with two
geoules of sturgeon, six barrels of pickled oysters,
three barrels of Bologna olives, with some other
Spanish commodities.

My Lord President of the north hath lately
made me patron of a living hard by Henley, called
Hambledon. It is worth five hundred pounds
a year communibus annis^ and the now incumbent,
Dr Pilkington, is very aged, valetudinary, and
corpulent. My lord by legal instrument hath trans-
mitted the next advowson to me for satisfaction of
some arrearages. Dr Dommlaw and two or three
more have been with me about it, but I always
intended to make the first proffer to you ; there-
fore, I pray, think of it. A sum of money must
be had, but you shall be at no trouble for that if
you only will secure it (and desire one more who
I know will do it for you), and it shall appear
unto you that you have it upon far better terms

OF JAMES HOWELL 371

than any other. It is as finely situated as any rec-
tory can be, for it is about the midway betwixt Ox-
ford and London. It lies upon the Thames, and
the glebeland house is very large and fair, and not
dilapidated, so that considering all things it is as
good as some bishoprics. I know His Majesty is
gracious unto you, and you may well expect some
preferment that way, but such livings as these are
not to be had everywhere. I thank you for invit-
ing me to your act. I will be with you next week,
God willing, and hope to find my father there. —
So, with my kind love to Dr Mansel, Mr Wat-
kins, Mr Madocks, and Mr Napier at All Souls',
I rest your loving brother, J. H.

London, 20 June 1628.

XVI

To my Father, Mr Ben. Johnson

FATHER ^Y^.yNullum fit magnum ingenium
sine mixtura dementiae, there is no great wit
without some mixture of madness, so saith the
philosopher, nor was he a fool who answered, nee
parvumy sine mixtura stultitiae, nor small wit without
some allay of foolishness. Touching the first it is
verified in you, for I find that you have been often-
times mad. You were mad when you wrote your
" Fox," and madder when you wrote your
"Alchemist;" you were mad when you wrote
" Catilin," and stark mad when you wrote

372 FAMILIAR LETTERS

"Sqanus;" but when you wrote your "Epi-
grams " and the " Magnetic Lady *' you were not
so mad. Insomuch that I perceive there be
degrees of madness in you. Excuse me that I am
so free with you. The madness I mean is that
divine fury, that heating and heightening spirit
which Ovid speaks of.

Est Deus in nobis agetante calescimus illo : that
true enthusiasm which transports and elevates the
souls of poets above the middle region of vulgar
conceptions, and makes them soar up to heaven
to touch the stars with their laurelled heads, to
walk in the Zodiac with Apollo himself, and com-
mand Mercury upon their errand.

I cannot yet light upon Doctor Davies' Welsh
grammar. Before Christmas I am promised one.
So desiring you to look better hereafter to your
charcoal fire and chimney, which I am glad to be
one that preserved it from burning ; this being the
second time that Vulcan hath threatened you, it
may be because you have spoken ill of his wife,
and been too busy with his horns. — I rest your
son, and contiguous neighbour,

J. H.

Westminster, 27 June 1629.

OF JAMES HOWELL 373

XVII

To Sir Arthur Ingram^ at his house in Tork

m

I HAVE sent you herewith a hamper of melons,
the best I could find in any of Tothillfield gar-
dens, and with them my very humble service and
thanks for all favours, and lately for inviting me
to your new noble house at Temple Newsam
when I return to Yorkshire. To this I may
answer you as my Lord Coke was answered by a
Norfolk countryman who had a suit depending in
the King's Bench against some neighbours touch-
ing a river that used to annoy him, and Sir Edward
Coke asking how he called the river, he answered,
" My Lord, I need not call her, for she is forward
enough to come of herself." So I may say that
you need not call me to any house of yours, for
I am forward enough to come without calling.

My Lord President is still indisposed at Dr
Nappier's, yet he wrote to me lately that he hopes
to be at the next sitting in York. — So with a ten-
der of my most humble service to my noble good
lady, I rest your much obliged servant,

J. H.

London, 25 July 1629.

374 FAMIUAR LETTERS

XVIII
To R. S., Esq.

I AM one of them who value not a courtesy
that hangs long hetwixt the fingers. I love not
those viscosa beneficial those bird-Umed kindnesses
which Pliny speaks of; nor would I receive money
in a dirty clout, if possibly I could be without it.
Therefore I return you the courtesy by the same
hand that brought it. It might have pleasured me
at first, but the expectation of it hath prejudiced
me, and now perhaps you may have more need of
it than your humble servitor, J. H.

Westminster, 3 August 1629.

XIX
T^o the Countess of Sunderland at York

Madame,

MY lord continues still in a course of physic at
Dr Nappier's. I wrote to him lately that
his lordship would please to come to his own house
here in St Martin's Lane, where there is a greater
accommodation for the recovery of his health, Dr
Mayern being on the one side, and the King's
apothecary on the other ; but I fear there be some
mountebanks that carry him away, and I hear he
intends to remove to Wickham to one Atkinson, a
mere quack-salver, that was once D. Lopez's man.

OF JAMES HOWELL 375

The little knight that useth to draw up his
breeches with a shoeing-horn, I mean Sir Posthu-
mus Hobby, flew high at him this Parliament, and
would have inserted his name in the scroll of recu-
sants that is shortly to be presented to the King,
but I produced a certificate from Linford under the
minister's hand, that he received the communion
at Easter last, and so got his name out. Besides,
the deputy-lieutenants of Buckinghamshire would
have charged Biggin Farm with a light horse, but
Sir William Allford and others joined with me to
get it oflF.

Sir Thomas Wentworth and Mr Wansford are
grown great courtiers lately, and come from West-
minster Hall to White Hall (Sir Jo. Saville, their
countryman, having shown them the way with his
white staff). The Lord Weston tampered with
the one, and my Lord Cottington took pains with
the other, to bring them about from their violence
against the prerogative. And I am told the first
of them is promised my lord's place at York in
case his sickness continues.

We are like to have peace with Spain and
France; and for Germany, they say the Swedes
are like to strike into her, to try whether they may
have better fortunes than the Danes.

My Lady Scroop (my lord's mother) hath lain
sick a good while, and is very weak. — So I rest,
madame, your humble and dutiful servitor,

J. H.'

Westminster, 5 August 1629.

376 FAMILIAR LETTERS

To Dr H. W.

IT is a rule in friendshipy '* when distrust enters in
at the fore gate love goes oat at the postern."
It is as true a rule that i\ avopCa T179 ivurnj§ni^
apxfj dubitation is the beginning of all knowledge.
I confess this is true in the first election and co-
optation of a friend, to come to the true knowledge
of him by queries and doubts ; but when there is
a perfect contract made, confirmed by experience
and a long tract of time, distrust then is mere
poison to fiiendship. Therefore, if it be as I am
told, I am unfit to be your friend, but your servant,

J. H.
Westminster, 20 October 1629.

XXI
ToDrH. W.

THEY say in Italy that deeds are men and
words are but women. I have had your
word often to give me a visit. I pray turn your
female promises to masculine performances, else I
shall think you have lost your being ; for you know
it IS a rule in law, idem est non esse, 6? non apparere.
Your faithful servitor,

J. H.
Westminster, 25 September 1629.

OF JAMES HOWELL 377

Tb Mr B. Chaworth^ on my valentine^ Mistress Francis
Metcalf {now Lady Robinson)^ at York

A Sonnet

Could I charm the Queen of Love
To lend a quill of her white dove.
Or one of Cupid's pointed wings.
Dipt in the €air Castaiian springs.

Then would I write the all divine

Perfections of my Valentine.

As 'mongst all flowers the rose excels.
As amber 'mongst the fragrantest smells.
As 'mongst all minerals the gold.
As marble 'mongst the finest mould.
As diamonds 'mongst jewels bright.
As Cynthia 'mongst the lesser lights.

So 'mongst the northern beauties shine

So fer excels my Valentine.

In Rome and Naples I did view
Faces of celestial hue ;
Venetian dames I have seen many
(I only saw them, touched not any) ;
Of Spanish beauties, Dutch and French,
I have beheld the quintessence :

Yet saw I none that could outshine

Or parallel my Valentine,

The Italians, they are coy and quaint.

But they grossly daub and paint ;

The Spanish, kind and apt to please.

But savouring of the same disease ;

Of Dutch and French, some few are comely.

The French are light, the Dutch are homely ;

Let Tagus, Po, the Loire and Rhine

Then vail unto my Valentine.

370 FAMILIAR LETTERS

XV

To my Brother^ Dr Howell^ at Jesus College^

in Oxon

BROTHER, I have sent you here enclosed
warrants for four brace of bucks and a stag,
the last Sir Arthur Manwaring procured of the
King for you towards the keeping of your act. I
have sent you also a warrant for a brace of bucks
out of Waddon chase ; besides, you shall receive
by this carrier a great wicker hamper with two
geoules of sturgeon, six barrels of pickled oysters,
three barrels of Bologna olives, with some other
Spanish commodities.

My Lord President of the north hath lately
made me patron of a living hard by Henley, called
Hambledon. It is worth five hundred pounds
a year communibus anniSy and the now incumbent,
Dr Pilkington, is very aged, valetudinary, and
corpulent. My lord by legal instrument hath trans-
mitted the next advowson to me for satisfaction of
some arrearages. Dr Dommlaw and two or three
more have been with me about it, but I always
intended to make the first proffer to you ; there-
fore, I pray, think of it. A sum of money must
be had, but you shall be at no trouble for that if
you only will secure it (and desire one more who
I know will do it for you), and it shall appear
unto you that you have it upon far better terms

OF JAMES HOWELL 371

than any other. It is as finely situated as any rec-
tory can be, for it is about the midway betwixt Ox-
ford and London. It lies upon the Thames, and
the glebeland house is very large and fair, and not
dilapidated, so that considering all things it is as
good as some bishoprics. I know His Majesty is
gracious unto you, and you may well expect some
preferment that way, but such livings as these are
not to be had everywhere. I thank you for invit-
ing me to your act. I will be with you next week,
God willing, and hope to find my father there. —
So, with my kind love to Dr Mansel, Mr Wat-
kins, Mr Madocks, and Mr Napier at All Souls',
I rest your loving brother, J. H.

London, 20 June 1628.

XVI
T^o my Father^ Mr Ben. Johnson

FATHER ^Y^.y Nullum fit magnum ingenium
sine mixtura dementiae^ there is no great wit
without some mixture of madness, so saith the
philosopher, nor was he a fool who answered, nee
parvumy sine mixfura stultitiae, nor small wit without
some allay of foolishness. Touching the first it is
verified in you, for I find that you have been often-
times mad. You were mad when you wrote your
" Fox," and madder when you wrote your
"Alchemist;" you were mad when you wrote
"Catilin," and stark mad when you wrote

370 FAMILIAR LETTERS

XV

To my Brother^ Dr Howell^ at Jesus College^

in Oxon

BROTHER, I have sent you here enclosed
warrants for four brace of bucks and a stag,
the last Sir Arthur Man waring procured of the
King for you towards the keeping of your act. I
have sent you also a warrant for a brace of bucks
out of Waddon chase ; besides, you shall receive
by this carrier a great wicker hamper with two
geoules of sturgeon, six barrels of pickled oysters,
three barrels of Bologna olives, with some other
Spanish commodities.

My Lord President of the north hath lately
made me patron of a living hard by Henley, called
Hambledon. It is worth five hundred pounds
a year communibus anniSy and the now incumbent,
Dr Pilkington, is very aged, valetudinary, and
corpulent. My lord by legal instrument hath trans-
mitted the next advowson to me for satisfaction of
some arrearages. Dr Dommlaw and two or three
more have been with me about it, but I always
intended to make the first proflFer to you ; there-
fore, I pray, think of it. A sum of money must
be had, but you shall be at no trouble for that if
you only will secure it (and desire one more who
I know will do it for you), and it shall appear
unto you that you have it upon far better terms

OF JAMES HOWELL 371

than any other. It is as finely situated as any rec-
tory can be, for it is about the midway betwixt Ox-
ford and London. It lies upon the Thames, and
the glebeland house is very large and fair, and not
dilapidated, so that considering all things it is as
good as some bishoprics. I know His Majesty is
gracious unto you, and you may well expect some
preferment that way, but such livings as these are
not to be had everywhere. I thank you for invit-
ing me to your act. I will be with you next week,
God willing, and hope to find my father there. —
So, with my kind love to Dr Mansel, Mr Wat-
kins, Mr Madocks, and Mr Napier at All Souls',
I rest your loving brother, J. H.

London, 20 June 1628.

XVI

"To my Father^ Mr Ben. Johnson

FATHER BEN., Nullum fit magnum ingenium
sine mixtura dementiae^ there is no great wit
without some mixture of madness, so saith the
philosopher, nor was he a fool who answered, nee
parvumy sine mixtura stultitiaey nor small wit without
some allay of foolishness. Touching the first it is
verified in you, for I find that you have been often-
times mad. You were mad when you wrote your
" Fox," and madder when you wrote your
"Alchemist;" you were mad when you wrote
"Catilin," and stark mad when you wrote

382 FAMILIAR LETTERS

Commissioners for respite of homage for Rabbi
Castle. There was ;^i 20 demanded, but I came
off for 40s. My Lord Wentworth is made Lord
Deputy of Ireland, and carries a mighty stroke at
Court. There have been some clashings betwixt
him and my Lord of Pembroke lately, with others
at Court, and divers in the north, and some, as Sir
David Fowler, with others, have been crushed.

He pleased to give me the disposing of the next
attorney's place in York, and John Lister being
lately dead, I went to make use of the favour, and
was offered three hundred pounds for it, but some
got betwixt me and home, so that I was forced to
go away contented with one hundred pieces Mr
RatclifF delivered me in his chamber at Gray's Inn,
and so to part with the legal instrument I had,
which I did rather than contest.

The duchess your niece is well. I did what your
ladyship commanded me at York House. — So
I rest, madam, your ladyship's ready and faithful
servitor, J. H.

Westminster, this i of July 1629.

XXIV

To D. C.y Esq.y at his house in Essex

My D. D.,

I THANK you for your last society in Lon-
don, but I am sorry to have found Jack T. in
that pickle, and that he had so far transgressed

OF JAMES HOWELL 383

the Fannian law, which allows a chirping cup to
satiate, not to surfeit, to mirth, not to madness,
and upon some extraordinary occasion of some ren-
counters, to give nature a fillip but not a knock,
as Jack did. I am afraid he hath taken such a
habit of it that nothing but death will mend him,
and I find that he is posting thither apace by this
course. I have read of a King of Navarre (Charles
le Mauvais) who perished in strong waters, and of
a Duke of Clarence that was drowned in a butt of
Malmesey, but Jack T., I fear, will die in a butt
of Canary. Howsoever, commend me unto him,
and desire him to have a care of the main chance.
— So I rest yours, J. H.

York, 5 July 1629.

XXV
"To Sir Thomas LakCy Knight

I HAVE shown Sir Kenelme Digby both our
translations of Martiall's " Vitam quae faciunt
beatiorem," etc., and to tell you true he adjudged
yours the better, so I shall pay the wager in the
place appointed, and try whether I can recover
myself at gioco d^ amore^ which the Italian saith is
a play to cosen the devil. If your pulse beat
accordingly, I will wait upon you on the river to-
wards the evening, for a floundering fit to get some
fish for our supper. — So 1 rest, your true servitor,
3 July 1629. J. H.

384 FAMILIAR LETTERS

XXVI
To Mr Ben. yobnson

Father Ben.,

YOU desired me lately to procure you Dr
Davies' Welsh Grammar to add to those
many you have. I have lighted upon one at last,
and I am glad I have it in so seasonable a time
that it may serve for a New Year's gift, in which
quality I send it you ; and because it was not you,
but your muse, that desired it of me, for your
letter runs on feet, I thought it a good correspond-
ence with you to acconipany it with what fol-
lows:

Upon Dr Davies' British Grammar

'T was a tough task, believe it, thus to tame
A wild and wealthy langu^e, and to frame
Grammatic toils to curb her, so that she
Now speaks by rules, and sings by prosody ;
Such is the strength of art rough things to shape.
And of rude commons rich enclosures make.
Doubtless much oil and labour went to couch
Into methodic rules the rugged Dutch ;
The Rabbies pass my reach, but judge I can
Something of Clenard and Quintilian ;
Italian, And for those modem dames I find they three
Spanish, Are only lops cut from the Latian tree,
French, And easy 'twas to square them into parts.
The tree itself so blossoming with arts.
I have been shown for Irish and Bascuencc
Imperfect rules couched in an accidence :

OF JAMES HOWELL 385

But I find none of these can take the start
Of DavieSy or that prove more men of art.
Who in exacter method and short way.
The idioms of a language do display.

This is the tongue the bards sung in of old.
And Druids their dark knowledge did unfold.
Merlin in this his prophecies did vent
Which through the world of fame bear such extent.
This spoke that son of Mars, and Britain bold
Arthur. Who first amongst Christian worthies is enrolled.
This BrennuSf who, to his desire and glut.
The mistress of the world did prostitute.
This Arviragus and brave Catarac
Sole free, when all the world was on Rome's rack.
This Lucius who on angel's wings did soar
To Rome, and would wear diadem no more ;
And thousand heroes more which should I tell
This new year scarce would serve me, so farewell.

— Your son and servitor, J. H.

Cal., April 1629.

XXVII

To the Right Honourable the Earl of Bristol at

Sberbum Castle

My Lord,

I ATTENDED my Lord Cottington before he
went on his journey towards Spain, and put
him in mind of the old business against the Viceroy
of Sardinia, to see whether any good can be done,
and to learn whether the conde or his son be solv-
ent. He is to land at Lisbon ; one of the King's

386 FAMILIAR LETTERS

ships attends him, and some merchantmen take the
advantage of this convoy.

The news that keeps greatest noise now is that
the Emperor hath made a favourable peace with the
Dane, for Tilly had crossed the Elbe and entered
deep into Holstein Land, and in all probability
might have carried all before him, yet that king had
honourable terms given him and a peace is con-
cluded (though without the privity of England).
But I believe the King of Denmark fared the bet-
ter, because he is grandchild to Charles the Em-
peror's sister. Now it seems another spirit is like
to fall upon the Emperor, for they write that Gus-
tavus. King of Swethland, is struck into Germany
and hath taken Mecklenburg. The ground of his
quarrel, as I hear, is that the Emperor would not
acknowledge, much less give audience to, his am-
bassadors. He also gives out to come for the
assistance of his allies the dukes of Pomerland and
Mecklenburg, nor do I hear that he speaks any-
thing yet of the Prince Palsgrave's business.

Don Carlos Caloma is expected here from
Flanders about the same time that my Lord
Cottington shall be arrived at the Court of Spain.
God send us an honourable peace, for as the
Spaniard says, Nunca vi tan malapaZy que nefuesse
fnejoVy que la mejor guerra. — Your lordship's most
humble and ready servant, J. H.

London, 20 May 1629.

OF JAMES HOWELL 387

XXVIII
To my Cousin I. P., at Mr Conradus

Cousin,

A LETTER of yours was lately delivered me.
I made a shift to read the superscription,
but within I wondered what language it might be
in which it was written. At first I thought it was
Hebrew or some of her dialects, and so went from
the liver to the heart, from the right hand to the
left to read it, but could make nothing of it. Then
I thought it might be the Chinese language, and
went to read the words perpendicular ; and the
lines were so crooked and distorted that no cohe-
rence could be made. Greek I perceived it was
not, nor Latin or English. So I gave it for mere
gibberish and your characters to be rather hiero-
glyphics than letters. The best is you keep your
lines at a good distance, like those in Chancery
bills, who, as a clerk said, were made so wide of
purpose, because the clients should have room
enough to walk between them without jostling one
another ; yet this wideness had been excusable if
• your lines had been straight, but they were full of
odd kind of undulations and windings. If you can
write no otherwise one may read your thoughts
as soon as your characters. It is some excuse for
you that you are but a young beginner. I pray let
it appear in your next what a proficient you are,
otherwise some blame may light on me that placed

388 FAMILIAR LETTERS

you there. Let me receive no more gibberish or
hieroglyphics from you, but l^ble letters, that I
may acquaint your friends accordingly of your
good proceedings. — So I rest your very loving
cousin, J. H.

Westminster, 20 September 1629.

XXIX

To the Lord Viscount Wentwortb^ Lord Presi-
dent of Tork

My Lord,

MY last was of the first current, since which I
received one from your lordship, and your
commands therein, which I shall ever entertain
with a great deal of cheerfulness. The greatest
news from abroad is that the French King with his
cardinal are come again on this side the hills, hav-
ing done his business in Italy and Savoy, and re-
served still Pignerol in his hands, which will serve
him as a key to enter Italy at pleasure. Upon the
highest mountain amongst the Alps he left this
ostentatious inscription upon a great marble pil-
lar —

A la memoire etemelle de Louis treiziesme,

Roy dc France et dc Navarre,
Trcs-Auguste, tres-victorieux, tres-heureux,

Conquerant, tres-juste ;
Lequel apres avoir vaincu toutes les Nations

de r Europe,

OF JAMES HOWELL 3^

II a encore triomphe les Elements

Du del et de la terre,
Ayant passe deux fois ces Monts au mois

de Mars avec son Armee,
Victorieuse, pour remmettre les Princes

d' Italic en leurs estats,
Defendre et proteger ses Alliez.

To the eternal memory of Lewis the Thirteenth,
King of France and Navarre, most gracious, most
victorious, most happy, most just, a conqueror ;
who having overcome all nations of Europe, he
hath also triumphed over the elements of heaven
and earth, having twice passed over these hills in
the month of March with his victorious army, to
restore the princes of Italy to their estates, and to
defend and protect his allies. — So I take my leave
for the present, and rest your lordship's most
humble and ready servitor, J. H.

Westminster, 5 August 1629.

XXX

To Sir Kenelme Digby^ Knight

GIVE me leave to congratulate your happy
return from the Levant, and the great hon-
our you have acquired by your gallant comport-
ment in Algiers in re-escating so many English
slaves ; by bearing up so bravely against the Vene-
tian fleet in the bay of Scanderoon; and making
the Pantaloni to know themselves and you better.
I do not remember to have read or heard that

390 FAMILIAR LETTERS

those huge galleasses of Saint Mark were beaten
before. I give you the joy also that you have
borne up against the Venetian ambassador here,
and vindicated yourself of those foul scandals he
had cast upon you in your absence. Whereas you
desire me to join with my Lord Cottingham and
others to make affidavit touching Bartholomew
Spinola, whether he be Vezino de Madrid, viz.
free denison of Spain, I am ready to serve you
herein, or to do any other office that may right
you, and tend to the making of your prize good.
Yet I am very sorry that our Alleppo merchants
suffered so much.

I shall be shortly in London, and I will make
the greater speed, because I may serve you. So
I humbly kiss my noble lady's hand, and rest your
thrice assured servitor, J. H.

Westminster, 25 November 1629.

XXXI

To the Right Honourable Sir Peter Wichty
Ambassador at Constantinople

MASTER SIMON DIGBY delivered me
one from your lordship of the first of
June; and I was extremely glad to have it, for I
had received nothing from your lordship a twelve-
month before. Mr Comptroller Sir Tho. Edmonds
is lately returned from France, having renewed the
peace which was made tip to his hands before by

OF JAMES HOWELL 391

the Venetian ambassadors, who had much laboured
in it, and had concluded all things beyond the Alps
when the King of France was at Susa to relieve
Casal. The monsieur that was to fetch him from
Saint Denis to Paris put a kind of jeering com-
pliment upon him, viz. that his excellency should
not think it strange that he had so few French
gentlemen to attend in this service, to accompany
him to the court, in regard there were so many
killed at the Isle of Rhee. The Marquis of
Chasteau Neuf is here from France, and it was
an odd speech also from him reflecting upon Mr
Comptroller, that the King of Great Britain used
to send for his ambassadors from abroad to pluck
capons at home.

Mr Burlimach is to go shortly to Paris to re-
cover the other moiety of Her Majesty's portion;
whereof they say my Lord of Holland is to have
a good share. The Lord Treasurer Weston is he
who hath the greatest vogue now at court, but
many great ones have clashed with him. He is
so potent that I hear his eldest son is to marry
one of the blood royal of Scotland, the Duke of
Lennox's sister, and that with His Majesty's con-
sent.

Bishop Laud of London is also powerful in his
way, for he sits at the helm of the church, and
doth more than any of the two archbishops, or
all the rest of his two-and- twenty brethren besides.

In your next I should be glad your lordship
would do me the favour as to write how the grand

392 FAMILIAR LETTERS

signior is like to speed before Bagdad in this his
Persian expedition.

No more now, but that I always rest your
lordship's ready and most faithful servitor,

J. H.

Westminster, i January 1629.

XXXII
T^o my Father

SIR THOMAS WENTWORTH hath been
a good while Lord-President of York, and
since is sworn Privy Councillor, and made baron
and viscount ; the Duke of Buckingham himself
flew not so high in so short a revolution of time.
He was made viscount with a great deal of high
ceremony upon a Sunday in the afternoon at
Whitehall. My Lord Powis (who affects him not
much) being told that the heralds had fetched his
pedigree from the blood royal, viz., from John of
Gaunt, said, " Damme, if ever he come to be
King of England, I will turn rebel." When I
went first to give him joy he pleased to give me
the disposing of the next attorney's place that falls
void in York, which is valued at three hundred
pounds. I have no reason to leave my Lord of
Sunderland, for I hope he will be noble unto me ;
the perquisites of my place, taking the King's fee
away, came far short of what he promised me at
my first coming to him, in regard of his non-

OF JAMES HOWELL 393

residence at York, therefore I hope he will con-
sider it some other way. This languishing sickness
still hangs on him, and I fear will make an end
of him. There 's none can tell what to make of it,
but he voided lately a strange worm at Wickham ?
But I fear there 's an imposthume growing in him,
for he told me a passage, how many years ago my
Lord Willoughby and he, with so many of their
servants {de gayiti de cceur) played a match at
football against such a number of countrymen,
where my Lord of Sunderland, being busy about
the ball, got a bruise in the breast which put him
in a swoon for the present, but did not trouble
him till three months after, when being at Bever
Castle (his brother-in-law's house) a qualm took
him on a sudden, which made |jim retire to his
bedchamber. My Lord of Rutland following
him, put a pipe full of tobacco in his mouth, and
he, being not accustomed to tobacco, taking the
smoke downwards, fell a-casting and vomiting up
divers little imposthumated bladders of congealed
blood which saved his life then, and brought him
to have a better conceit of tobacco ever after, and
I fear there is some of that clotted blood still in
his body.

Because Mr Hawes of Cheapside is lately dead
I have removed my brother Griffith to the Hen
and Chickens in Paternoster Row to Mr Taylor's,
as genteel a shop as any in the city, but I gave a
piece of plate of twenty nobles price to his wife.
I wish the Yorkshire horse may be fit for your

394 FAMILIAR LETTERS

turn. He was accounted the best saddle gelding
about York when I bought him of Captain Philips
the muster-master. And when he carried me first
to London there was twenty pounds offered for
him by my Lady Carlisle. No more now, but de-
siring a continuance of your blessing and prayers
I rest, your dutiful son, J/ H.

London, 3 December 1630.

XXXIII

To the Lord CoUington, Ambassador-EsXtraor-
dinary for His Majesty of Great Britain in
the Court of Spain

My Lord,*

I RECEIVED your lordship's lately by Harry
Davies the Correo Santo, and I return my
humble thanks, that you were pleased to be
mindful (amongst so many high negotiations) of
the old business touching the Viceroy of Sardinia.
I have acquainted my Lord of Bristol accordingly.
Our eyes here look very greedily after your lord-
ship and the success of your embassy, and we are
glad to hear the business is brought to so good a
pass, and that the capitulations are so honourable
(the high effects of your wisdom).

For news, the Swedes do notable feats in Ger-
many, and we hope their cutting the Emperor and
Bavarian so much work to do, and the good offices

OF JAMES HOWELL 395

we arc to expect from Spain upon this redintegra-
tion of peace will be an advantage to the Prince
Palatin, and facilitate matters for restoring him to
his country.

There is little news at our court, but that there
fell an ill-favoured quarrel 'twixt Sir Kenelme
Digby and Mr Goring, Mr Jermin and others
at St James' lately about Mrs Baker the maid of
honour, and duels were like to grow of it, but that
the business was taken up by the lord treasurer,
my Lord of Dorset, and others appointed by the
King. My Lord of Sunderland is still ill disposed;
he willed me to remember his hearty service to
your lordship, and so did Sir Arthur Ingram, and
my lady ; they all wish you a happy and honour-
able return, as doth your lordship's most humble
and ready servitor, J. H.

London, i March 1630.

XXXIV

To my Lord Viscount Rocksavage

My Lord,

SOME say, the Italian loves no favour, but
what *s future ; though I have conversed much
with that nation, yet I am nothing infected with
their humour in this point: for I love favours
passed as well, the remembrance of them joys my
very heart, and makes it melt within me ; when
my thoughts reflect upon your lordship I have

396 FAMILIAR LETTERS

many of these fits of joy within me, by the pleas-
ing speculation of so many most noble favours
and respects which I shall daily study to improve
and merit. My lord, your lordship's most humble
and ready servitor,

J. H.
Westminster, 22 March 1630.

XXXV
To the Earl of Bristol

My Lord,

I DOUBT not but your lordship hath had in-
telligence from time to time what firm invasions
the King of Swedes hath made into Germany, and
by what degrees he hath mounted to this height,
having but six thousand foot and five hundred
horse when he entered first to Mecklenburg, and
taken that town while commissioners stood treat-
ing on both sides in his tent ; how thereby his
army much increased, and so rushed further into
the heart of the country, but passing near Mag-
denburg, being diffident of his own strength, he
suffered Tilly to take that great town with so much
effusion of blood, because they would receive no
quarter ; your lordship hath also heard of the
battle of Leipzic, where Tilly, notwithstanding
the victory he had got over the Duke of Saxony
a few days before, received an utter discomfiture,
upon which victory the King sent Sir Thomas Roe

OF JAMES HOWELL 397

a present of two thousand pounds and in his letter
calls him his strenuum consultoreniy he being one
of the first who had advised him to this German
war after he had made peace betwixt him and the
Polanden I presume also your lordship heard how
he met Tilly again near Ausburg, and made him
go upon a wooden leg whereof he died, and after
soundly plundered the Bavarian, and made him
flee from his own house at Munchen, and rifled
his very closets.

Now your lordship shall understand, that the
said king is at Mentz, and keeps a court there like
an emperor, there being above twelve ambassadors
with him. The King of France sent a great mar-
quis for his ambassador to put him in mind of his
articles, and to tell him that His Christian Majesty
wondered he would cross the Rhine without his
privity, and wondered more that he would invade
the Churchlands, meaning the Archbishop of
Mentz, who had put himself under the protection
of France. The Swede answered that he had not
broke the least tittle of the articles agreed on, and
touching the said archbishop he had not stood
neutral as was promised, therefore he had justly
set on his skirts. The ambassador replied, in case
of breach of articles, his master had eighty thou-
sand men to pierce Germany when he pleased.
The King answered, that he had but twenty thou-
sand, and those should be sooner at the walls of
Paris than his fourscore thousand should be on the
frontiers of Germany. If this new conqueror goes

398 FAMILIAR LETTERS

on with this violence, I believe it will cast the
policy of all Christendom into another mould, and
beget new maxims of State, for none can foreteU
where his monstrous progress will terminate. Sir
Henry Vane is still in Germany observing his mo-
tions, and they write that they do not agree well,
as I heard the King should tell him that he spoke
'nothing but Spanish to him. Sir Robert Anstruther
is also at Vienna, being gone thither from the diet
at Ratisbon.

I hear the infant cardinal is designed to become
Governor of the Netherlands, and passeth by way
of Italy, and so through Germany : his brother
Don Carlos is lately dead. — So I humbly take
my leave and rest, my lord, your lordship's most
humble and ready servitor, J. H.

Westminster, 23 April 1630.

XXXVI

To my noble lady^ the Lady Cor.

Madame,
OU spoke to me for a cook who had seen

Y

the world abroad, and I think the bearer
hereof will fit your ladyship's turn. He can mari-
nate fish, make jellies, he is excellent for a piquant
sauce, and the haugou. Besides, madam, he is
passing good for an olla. He will tell your lady-
ship that the reverend matron the oUa-podrida hath
intellectuals and senses. Mutton, beef, and bacon

OF JAMES HOWELL 399

are to her as the will, understanding, and memory
are to the soul. Cabbage, turnips, artichokes, po-
tatoes and dates are her five senses, and pepper
the common sense. She must have marrow to keep
life in her, and some birds to make her light. By
all means she must go adorned with chains of
sausages. He is also good at larding of meat after
the mode of France. Madame, you may make
proof of him, and if your ladyship find him too
saucy or wasteful you may return him whence you
had him. — So I rest, madam, your ladyship's
most humble servitor, J. H.

Westminster, 2 June 1630.

XXX vn

Ti? Mr E. D.

YOU write to me that T. B. intends to give
money for such a place. If he doth, I fear
it will be verified in him that a fool and his money
is soon parted, for I know he will be never able to
execute it. I heard of a late Secretary of State that
could not read the next morning his own hand-
writing, and I have read of Caligula's horse that
was made consul, therefore I pray tell him from
me (for I wish him well) that if he thinks he is fit
for that office he looks upon himself through a false
glass. A trotting horse is fit for a coach but not
for a lady's saddle, and an ambler is proper for a
lady's saddle but not for a coach. If Tom under-

400 FAMILIAR LETTERS

takes this place he will be as an ambler in a coach,
or a trotter under a lady's saddle. When I come
to town I will put him upon a far fitter and more
feasible business for him, and so commend me to
him, for I am his and your true friend,

J. H.

Westminster, 5 June 1630.

XXXVIII

7(9 my Father

THERE are two ambassadors-extraordinary to
go abroad shortly, the Earl of Leicester and
the Lord Weston. This latter goes to France,
Savoy, Venice, and so returns by Florence, a pleas-
ant journey, for he carries presents with him from
King and Queen. The Earl of Leicester is to go to
the King of Denmark and other princes of Ger-
many. The main of the embassy is to condole the
late death of the Lady Sophia Queen Dowager of
Denmark, our King's grandmother. She was the
Duke of Mecklenburg's daughter, and her hus-
band. Christian the Third, dying young, her por-
tion, which was forty thousand pounds, was restored
her, and living a widow forty-four years after, she
grew to be so great a housewife, setting three or
four hundred people at work, that she died worth
near two millions of dollars, so that she was reputed
the richest queen of Christendom. By the consti-

OF JAMES HOWELL 401

tutions of Denmark this estate is divisible amongst
her children^ whereof she had five, the King of
Denmark, the Duchess of Saxony, the Quchess
of Brunswick, Queen Anne, and the Duchess of
Holstein. The King being male is to have two
shares, our King and the Lady Elizabeth are to have
that which should have belonged to Queen Anne ;
so he is to return by the Hague. It pleased my
Lord of Leicester to send for me to Baynard's
Castle, and proffer me to go secretary in this em-
bassy, assuring me that the journey shall tend to
my profit and credit. So I have accepted of it, for
I hear very nobly of my lord, so that I hope to
make a boon voyage of it. I desire, as hitherto,
your prayers and blessing may accompany me.
So, with my love to my brothers and sisters, I
rest, your dutiful son,

J. H.

London, 5 May 1632.

XXXIX

To Mr Alderman Moulsoriy Governor of the

Merchant Adventurers

THE Earl of Leicester is to go shortly ambas-
sador-extraordinary to the King of Denmark,
and he is to pass by Hamburg. I understand by
Mr Skinner that the staple hath some grievances
to be redressed. If this embassy may be an advan-

402 FAMILIAR LETTERS

tage to the company I will solicit my lord that he
may do you all the favour that may stand with his
honouf. So I shall expect your instructions accord-
ingly, and rest, yours ready to serve you,

J. H.
Westminster, i June 1632.

XL

jH? Mr Alderman Cletbro, Governor of the

Eastland Company

I AM informed of some complaints that your
Company hath against the King of Denmark's
officers in the Sound. The Earl of Leicester is
nominated by His Majesty to go ambassador ex-
traordinary to that king and other princes of Ger-
many. If this embassy may be advantageous unto
you, you may send liie your directions and I will
attend my lord accordingly, to do you any favour
that may stand with his honour and conduce to
your benefit and redress of grievances. So I take
my leave, and rest, yours ready to do you service,

J. H.
Westminster, i of June 1632.

OF JAMES HOWELL 403

XLI

To the Right Honourable the Earl of Leicester

at Pettworth

My Lord,

SIR JOHN PENNINGTON is appointed
to carry your lordship and your company
to Germany, and he intends to take you. up at
Margate. I have been with Mr Burlamach, and
received a bill of exchange from him for 10,000
dollars, payable in Hamburg. I have also received
;^2000 of Sir Paul Pinder for your lordship's use ;
and he did me the favour to pay it me all in old
gold. Your allowance hath begun since the 25th
of July last at ^^8 per diem, and is to continue so
till your lordship return to His Majesty. I under-
stand by some merchants to-day upon the exchange
that the King of Denmark is at Luckstadt, and
stays there all this summer ; if it be so, it will save
half the voyage of going to Copenhagen, for in lieu
of the Sound, we need go no further than the river
of Elbe. — So I rest your lordship's most humble
and faithful servitor,

J. H.
Westminster, 13 August 1632.

404 FAMILIAR LETTERS

XLII

To the Right Honourable the Lord Mobun

My Lord,

THOUGH any command from your lordship
be welcome to me at all times, yet that which
you lately enjoined me in yours of the 12th of
August, that I should inform your lordship of
what I know touching the Inquisition is now a
little unseasonable, because I have much to do to
prepare myself for this employment to Germany,
therefore I cannot satisfy you in that fulness as I
could do otherwise. The very name of the Inqui-
sition is terrible all Christendom over, and the
King of Spain himself with the chiefest of his
grandees tremble at it. It was founded first by
the Catholic King, Ferdinand (our Henry the
Eighth's father-in-law), for he having got Granada
and subdued all the Moors, who had had firm
footing in that kingdom about 700 years, yet he
suffered them to live peaceably a while in point
of conscience ; but afterwards he sent a solemn
mandamus to the Jacobin friars to endeavour the
conversion of them by preaching and all other
means. They finding that their pains did little
good (and that those whom they had converted
turned apostates), obtained power to make a re-
search, which afterwards was called Inquisition;
and it was ratified by Pope Sixtus that if they

OF JAMES HOWELL 405

would not conform themselves by fair means,
they should be forced to it. The Jacobins being
found too severe herein, and for other abuses be-
sides, this Inquisition was taken from them and
put into the hands of the most sufficient ecclesias-
tics. So a council was established and officers
appointed accordingly. Whosoever was found pen-
dulous and brangling in his religion was brought
by a sergeant called Familiar before the said Coun-
cil of Inquisition. His accuser or delator stands
behind a piece of tapestry to see whether he be
the party, and if he be, then they put divers
subtile and entrapping interrogatories unto him,
^nd whether he confesses anything or no, he is
sent to prison. When the said Familiar goes to
any house, though it be in the dead of the night
(and that 's the time commonly they use to come,
or in the dawn of the day), all doors and trunks
and chests fly open, to him, and the first thing he
doth he seizeth the party's breeches, searcheth his
pockets, and takes his keys, and so rummageth
all his closets and trunks; and a public notary
whom he carrieth with him takes an inventory
of everything, which is sequestrated and deposited
in the hands of some of his next neighbours. The
party being hurried away in a close coach and
clapped in prison, he is there eight days before
he makes his appearance, and then they present
unto him the cross and the missal-book to swear
upon ; if he refuseth to swear, he convicteth him-
self, and though he swear, yet he is remanded to

4o6 FAMILIAR LETTERS

prison. This oath commonly is presented before
any accusation be produced. His gaoler is strictly
commanded to pry into his actions, his deportment,
words, and countenance, and to set spies upon him,
and whosoever of his fellow prisoners or others
can produce anything against him, he hath a re-
ward for it. At last, after divers appearances, ex-
aminations, and scrutinies, the information against
him is read, but the witnesses' names are concealed,
then is he appointed a proctor and an advocate,
but he must not confer or advise with them pri-
vately, but in the face of the court. The King's
attorney is a party in it, and the accusers com-
monly the sole witnesses. Being to name his own
lawyers oftentimes others are discovered and fall
into trouble ; while he is thus in prison, he is so
abhorred and abandoned of all the world that
none will, at least none dare, visit him. Though
one clear himself, yet he cannot be freed till an
Act of Faith pass, which is done seldom, but very
solemnly. There are few who, having fallen into
the gripes of the I;iquisition, do escape the rack ;
or the sanbenito, which is a straight yellow coat
without sleeves, having the portrait of the devil
painted up and down in black, and upon their
heads they carry a mitre of paper, with a man
frying in the flames of hell upon it, they gag their
mouths, and tie a great cord about their necks.
The judges meet in some uncouth dark dungeon,
and the executioner stands by, clad in a close dark
garment, his head and face covered with a chaperon.

OF JAMES HOWELL 407

out of which there are but two holes to look
through^ and a huge link burning in his hand.
When the ecclesiastic inquisitors have pronounced
the anathema against him, they transmit him to
the secular judges to receive the sentence of death,
for churchmen must not have their hands imbrued
in blood ; the King can mitigate any punishment
under death, nor is a nobleman subject to the
rack.

I pray be pleased to pardon this rambling im-
perfect relation, and take in good part my con-
formity to your commands, for I am your lord-
ship's most ready and faithful servitor,

J. H.

Westminster, 30 August 1632.

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